Ask a question about a specific research topic (RAG).
AI agents call ask_research_topic to retrieve information from Kavi Research Assistant without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and synthesizes information from the vector database in response to user queries. It performs a read operation with no side effects—no data is created, modified, deleted, or executed. The worst-case misuse would be unauthorized information access, which is a low-severity risk compared to other capabilities on this server like delete_research_topic (Destructive) or save_research_files (Write).
From the tool's definition The tool is described as 'Ask a question about a specific research topic (RAG)' — a retrieval-augmented generation operation that queries existing research data without modifying it.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Ask a question about a specific research topic (RAG). It is categorised as a Read tool in the Kavi Research Assistant MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Kavi Research Assistant MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for ask_research_topic: 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 Kavi Research Assistant. Nothing to install.
ask_research_topic 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 ask_research_topic 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 ask_research_topic. 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.
ask_research_topic is provided by the Kavi Research Assistant MCP server (machhakiran/kavi-research-assistant-mcp). 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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