migrate-apply · MCP Atlas MCP: Risk & Policy

WHAT IT DOES

What migrate-apply does on MCP Atlas

AI agents invoke migrate-apply to trigger actions in MCP Atlas. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.

WHY IT NEEDS A POLICY

Why migrate-apply needs a policy

Applying migrations executes DDL/DML statements against a database. While some migrations are reversible, the act of running them is an execution operation with potentially irreversible side effects (data loss from ALTER/DROP within migrations, data transforms). The blast radius is critical since a misconfigured or malicious migration could corrupt or destroy production data.

From the tool's definition 'Apply pending migration files to a database' — this executes migration scripts against a live database, triggering schema changes and data transformations

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

Recommended rule Ready

Verdict

migrate-apply Rate-limited

migrate-apply stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "migrate-apply": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "migrate-apply_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 10,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

RATE-LIMIT THIS TOOL →

Instant setup, no code required.

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: every tool call is checked against your rule before it reaches MCP Atlas, so you can run agents against it safely.

FAQ

Questions about migrate-apply

What does the migrate-apply tool do? +

Apply pending migration files to a database. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the MCP Atlas MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.

How do I enforce a policy on migrate-apply? +

Register the MCP Atlas MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for migrate-apply: 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 MCP Atlas. Nothing to install.

What risk level is migrate-apply? +

migrate-apply is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.

Can I rate-limit migrate-apply? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the migrate-apply 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.

How do I block migrate-apply completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for migrate-apply. 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.

What MCP server provides migrate-apply? +

migrate-apply is provided by the MCP Atlas MCP server (mpreziuso/mcp-atlas). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.