List all visible windows with their titles and positions.
AI agents call list_windows to retrieve information from Openowl without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a read-only operation that enumerates desktop windows and their metadata. It has no side effects, cannot modify system state, and poses minimal security risk even if called repeatedly or with unexpected arguments. The blast radius is limited to information disclosure of window names and positions, which are already visible to any user with desktop access.
From the tool's definition Tool description states "List all visible windows with their titles and positions" — a pure query operation that retrieves information about window state without modifying, executing, or deleting anything.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_windows gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Openowl, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_windows:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_windows": {}
}
}list_windows is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List all visible windows with their titles and positions. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Openowl MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Openowl MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_windows: 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 Openowl. Nothing to install.
list_windows 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 list_windows 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 list_windows. 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.
list_windows is provided by the Openowl MCP server (mihir-kanzariya/openowl). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Openowl, 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.
40 Openowl tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.