Low Risk

get_note

Get a specific note with its content and metadata (legacy)

How to control get_note ↓

What get_note does on Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server

AI agents call get_note to retrieve information from Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Low Risk

Why get_note needs a policy

This tool retrieves note content and metadata from an Obsidian vault without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It has no side effects and poses minimal security risk—the primary concern would be unauthorized access to sensitive notes, which is a data confidentiality issue rather than a capability risk.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'get_note' and description 'Get a specific note with its content and metadata' indicate retrieval of data without modification. The term 'Get' is a standard Read operation that retrieves existing data.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access get_note gives an agent:

How to control get_note

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for get_note:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "get_note": {}
  }
}

get_note is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
CAP THIS TOOL →

Free to start. No card required.

Related tools and policies

Go deeper

Questions about get_note

What does the get_note tool do? +

Get a specific note with its content and metadata (legacy). It is categorised as a Read tool in the Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on get_note? +

Register the Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_note: 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 Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server. Nothing to install.

What risk level is get_note? +

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

Can I rate-limit get_note? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_note 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.

How do I block get_note completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_note. 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 get_note? +

get_note is provided by the Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server MCP server (j-shelfwood/obsidian-local-rest-api-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server tool call.

Start from Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

Free to start. No card required.

13 Obsidian Local REST API MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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