dpla.archives.by_subject
Browse digitized items from US archives by subject or topic keyword using DPLA subject vocabulary. Subjects include broad categories (Women, Architecture, Photography) and historical topics (Civil War, Native Americans, Abolitionists). Optionally filter by media type. Returns paginated list of ma...
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What dpla.archives.by_subject does on Apibase
AI agents call dpla.archives.by_subject to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
page | integer | — | Page number for pagination, starting at 1 (default: 1) |
type | string | — | Optionally narrow results to a specific media type: image, text, sound, moving image, or physical object |
subject | string | Yes | Subject or topic to browse (e.g. "Photography", "Women", "Architecture", "Native Americans"). Case-insensitive exact match against DPLA subject vocabulary. |
page_size | integer | — | Number of items per page, 1–50 (default: 10) |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why dpla.archives.by_subject is rated Low
Tool retrieves and queries archived items without modification or execution capabilities.
From the tool's definition Browse digitized items, paginated list, returns title, creator, date, type, thumbnail, URL
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs dpla.archives.by_subject safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For dpla.archives.by_subject, this is the rule to start with:
dpla.archives.by_subject is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every dpla.archives.by_subject call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about dpla.archives.by_subject
Browse digitized items from US archives by subject or topic keyword using DPLA subject vocabulary. Subjects include broad categories (Women, Architecture, Photography) and historical topics (Civil War, Native Americans, Abolitionists). Optionally filter by media type. Returns paginated list of matching items with title, creator, date, type, thumbnail, and direct URL. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apibase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
dpla.archives.by_subject accepts 4 parameters: page, type, subject, page_size. Required: subject. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for dpla.archives.by_subject: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.
dpla.archives.by_subject is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the dpla.archives.by_subject rule in your PolicyLayer 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.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for dpla.archives.by_subject. 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.
dpla.archives.by_subject is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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