AI agents call getWhiteboard to retrieve information from Heptabase MCP without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
The tool appears to retrieve or query whiteboard data from Heptabase backups with no side effects. Despite the empty description, the naming convention and context of sibling read-only retrieval tools strongly suggest this is a data retrieval operation. The blast radius is minimal—an AI agent retrieving whiteboards cannot cause financial loss, data deletion, or external execution.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'getWhiteboard' suggests retrieval of whiteboard data. Sibling tools like 'getCard', 'getCardContent', and 'listBackups' are clearly read operations that retrieve data from Heptabase backups without modification.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access getWhiteboard gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Heptabase MCP, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for getWhiteboard:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"getWhiteboard": {}
}
}getWhiteboard is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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getWhiteboard. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Heptabase MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Heptabase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for getWhiteboard: 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 Heptabase MCP. Nothing to install.
getWhiteboard 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 getWhiteboard 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 getWhiteboard. 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.
getWhiteboard is provided by the Heptabase MCP server (larrystanley/heptabase-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Heptabase MCP, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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14 Heptabase MCP tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.