hn_top_stories
AI agents call hn_top_stories to retrieve information from Pypi:hn Tech Signal without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and surfaces publicly available HackerNews stories with no side effects. It performs a read-only query operation. Tool description is empty, slightly lowering confidence, but context from server purpose and sibling tools strongly indicates this is data retrieval only. Severity is low because misuse merely returns public information already available elsewhere.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'hn_top_stories' indicates retrieval of top HackerNews stories. Server description confirms it 'aggregates tech and AI signals' from public sources into a 'briefing' with 'no authentication required.' Sibling tools (arxiv_latest, arxiv_search,…
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
hn_top_stories. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Pypi:hn Tech Signal MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Pypi:hn Tech Signal MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for hn_top_stories: 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 Pypi:hn Tech Signal. Nothing to install.
hn_top_stories 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 hn_top_stories 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 hn_top_stories. 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.
hn_top_stories is provided by the Pypi:hn Tech Signal MCP server (malkreide/hn-tech-signal-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.
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