List emails from a specified account. Automatically detects account type (Gmail/IMAP).
AI agents call list_emails to retrieve information from MCP Email Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and enumerates emails without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing operations. It has minimal blast radius—an agent listing emails cannot cause irreversible changes or execute code. The only concern is potential exposure of email metadata/content, but that is a data access rather than data mutation issue, placing it firmly in Read category with low severity.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'list_emails' and description 'List emails from a specified account' indicate data retrieval with no modification or deletion. The verb 'list' is explicitly a Read operation.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
List emails from a specified account. Automatically detects account type (Gmail/IMAP). It is categorised as a Read tool in the MCP Email Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the MCP Email Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_emails: 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 MCP Email Server. Nothing to install.
list_emails 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_emails 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_emails. 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_emails is provided by the MCP Email Server MCP server (kentaroh7777/mcp-email-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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