workflows_step_failed

What workflows_step_failed does on Slack

AI agents invoke workflows_step_failed to trigger actions in Slack. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call: builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.

Why workflows_step_failed is rated High

Marking a workflow step as failed is an external operation that affects the execution state of a running workflow. It can trigger error-handling paths, halt dependent steps, or cause cascading failures across automated processes. This is not a simple data write — it drives runtime behavior, making Execute the appropriate category. Severity is high because misuse could disrupt business-critical automated workflows.

From the tool's definition "Indicate a workflow step has failed" — this triggers a state change in an external workflow execution, signaling failure and potentially causing workflow branching, error handlers, retries, or halting downstream steps.

The rule that runs workflows_step_failed safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Slack, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For workflows_step_failed, this is the rule to start with:

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "workflows_step_failed": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "workflows_step_failed_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 10,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Questions about workflows_step_failed