AI agents call list_templates to retrieve information from Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This is a straightforward read operation that enumerates templates in an Obsidian vault. It retrieves information with no side effects, matching the definition of Read category. The severity is low because accessing a list of template names poses minimal security risk—templates themselves are typically non-sensitive structural artifacts.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'list_templates' and description 'List all available templates' indicate a retrieval operation that queries existing template metadata without modifying, executing, or deleting anything.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_templates gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_templates:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_templates": {}
}
}list_templates is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List all available templates. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_templates: 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 Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server. Nothing to install.
list_templates 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 list_templates 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 list_templates. 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.
list_templates is provided by the Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server MCP server (jianruidutong/obsidian-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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25 Enhanced Obsidian MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.