List the configured email categories and their matching rules. Shows how emails are automatically categorized based on sender, subject, and labels.
AI agents call gmail_get_categories to retrieve information from Gmail MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries categorization configuration metadata from Gmail. It has no side effects, does not modify data, and only exposes existing category definitions and their rules. This is a pure read operation with minimal security impact even if misused by an AI agent.
From the tool's definition Tool 'lists' and 'shows' email categories and rules without modifying data. The description explicitly states it provides information about configured categories and their matching rules with no mention of creation, modification, or deletion capabilities.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
List the configured email categories and their matching rules. Shows how emails are automatically categorized based on sender, subject, and labels. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Gmail MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Gmail MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for gmail_get_categories: 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 Gmail MCP Server. Nothing to install.
gmail_get_categories 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 gmail_get_categories 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 gmail_get_categories. 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.
gmail_get_categories is provided by the Gmail MCP Server MCP server (murphy360/mcp_gmail). 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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