AI agents call neighbors to retrieve information from Epicure MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves or queries data about ingredient relationships without modifying, deleting, or executing external operations. It fits the Read category: it queries embedding model results to find neighboring/similar ingredients. Severity is low because misuse would only expose or return culinary data with no side effects, financial impact, or destructive capability.
From the tool's definition Tool is part of a read-only MCP server (stated: 'read-only') focused on culinary data analysis. The name 'neighbors' and sibling tools like 'closest_mode', 'find_pairings', and 'flavour_correlations' suggest retrieval of similar or related ingredients.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access neighbors gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Epicure MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for neighbors:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"neighbors": {}
}
}neighbors is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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neighbors. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Epicure MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Epicure MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for neighbors: 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 Epicure MCP Server. Nothing to install.
neighbors 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 neighbors 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 neighbors. 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.
neighbors is provided by the Epicure MCP Server MCP server (kaikaku-ai/epicure-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Epicure 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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13 Epicure MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.