Pause a running reactive review session. The review can be resumed later with resume_review. Useful for: - Freeing up resources temporarily - Allowing manual intervention - Stopping execution before a problematic step
AI agents invoke pause_review to trigger actions in Context Engine MCP Server. 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.
This tool modifies the state of a running process (pausing it), which is an operational/execution-side effect. It doesn't read data, write persistent data, or destroy anything — it controls execution flow of a review session. The blast radius is low since pausing is reversible (the description explicitly states it can be resumed later with resume_review).
From the tool's definition 'Pause a running reactive review session' and 'Stopping execution before a problematic step'
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access pause_review gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Context Engine MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for pause_review:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"pause_review": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "pause_review_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 10,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}pause_review stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
Free to start. No card required.
Pause a running reactive review session. The review can be resumed later with resume_review. Useful for: - Freeing up resources temporarily - Allowing manual intervention - Stopping execution before a problematic step. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Context Engine MCP Server MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.
Register the Context Engine MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for pause_review: 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 Context Engine MCP Server. Nothing to install.
pause_review is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the pause_review 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 pause_review. 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.
pause_review is provided by the Context Engine MCP Server MCP server (kirachon/context-engine). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Context Engine 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.
50 Context Engine MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.