Read a note from the Obsidian vault by its relative path.
AI agents call read_note to retrieve information from Obsidian MCP (pgvector + Ollama, self-hosted) without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves or queries data (a note's contents) from the vault without creating, modifying, or deleting anything. It is a straightforward read operation. The low severity reflects that misuse would at worst expose information the agent already has vault access to; the blast radius is limited to information disclosure within the user's own vault.
From the tool's definition Tool name: 'read_note'. Description: 'Read a note from the Obsidian vault by its relative path.' The verb 'read' and action of retrieving data by path are indicative of a retrieval operation with no side effects.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Read a note from the Obsidian vault by its relative path. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Obsidian MCP (pgvector + Ollama, self-hosted) MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Obsidian MCP (pgvector + Ollama, self-hosted) MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for read_note: 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 Obsidian MCP (pgvector + Ollama, self-hosted). Nothing to install.
read_note 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 read_note 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 read_note. 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.
read_note is provided by the Obsidian MCP (pgvector + Ollama, self-hosted) MCP server (maxkuminov/obsidian-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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