Low Risk

snomed_hierarchy

Get the hierarchical relationships (IS-A) for a SNOMED CT concept. Use this tool to: - Find parent concepts (supertypes) - Find child concepts (subtypes) - Navigate the SNOMED CT hierarchy Returns parent and/or child concepts based on IS-A relationships. ⚠️ SNOMED CT content is for reference o...

Part of the Medical Terminologies MCP server. Enforce policies on this tool with Intercept, the open-source MCP proxy.

AI agents call snomed_hierarchy to retrieve information from Medical Terminologies without modifying any data. This is common in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows where the agent needs context before taking action. Because read operations don't change state, they are generally safe to allow without restrictions -- but you may still want rate limits to control API costs.

Even though snomed_hierarchy only reads data, uncontrolled read access can leak sensitive information or rack up API costs. An agent caught in a retry loop could make thousands of calls per minute. A rate limit gives you a safety net without blocking legitimate use.

Read-only tools are safe to allow by default. No rate limit needed unless you want to control costs.

io-github-sidneybissoli-medical-terminologies-mcp.yaml
tools:
  snomed_hierarchy:
    rules:
      - action: allow

See the full Medical Terminologies policy for all 27 tools.

Tool Name snomed_hierarchy
Category Read
Risk Level Low

View all 27 tools →

Agents calling read-class tools like snomed_hierarchy have been implicated in these attack patterns. Read the full case and prevention policy for each:

Browse the full MCP Attack Database →

Other tools in the Read risk category across the catalogue. The same policy patterns (rate-limit, allow) apply to each.

What does the snomed_hierarchy tool do? +

Get the hierarchical relationships (IS-A) for a SNOMED CT concept. Use this tool to: - Find parent concepts (supertypes) - Find child concepts (subtypes) - Navigate the SNOMED CT hierarchy Returns parent and/or child concepts based on IS-A relationships. ⚠️ SNOMED CT content is for reference only. Production use requires IHTSDO license.. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Medical Terminologies MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on snomed_hierarchy? +

Add a rule in your Intercept YAML policy under the tools section for snomed_hierarchy. You can allow, deny, rate-limit, or validate arguments. Then run Intercept as a proxy in front of the Medical Terminologies MCP server.

What risk level is snomed_hierarchy? +

snomed_hierarchy is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit snomed_hierarchy? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the snomed_hierarchy rule in your Intercept policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block snomed_hierarchy completely? +

Set action: deny in the Intercept policy for snomed_hierarchy. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides snomed_hierarchy? +

snomed_hierarchy is provided by the Medical Terminologies MCP server (medical-terminologies-mcp). Intercept sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policies on Medical Terminologies

Open source. One binary. Zero dependencies.

npx -y @policylayer/intercept
github.com/policylayer/intercept →
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