delegate · Agent Bus MCP: Risk & Policy

WHAT IT DOES

What delegate does on Agent Bus

AI agents use delegate to create or update resources in Agent Bus — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Agent Bus environment.

WHY IT NEEDS A POLICY

Why delegate needs a policy

The tool creates and assigns tasks, notifies agents, and records events — all reversible write/create operations. It does not execute code, delete data, or involve financial transactions. Severity is medium because it can trigger other agents to perform work, potentially cascading effects, but the delegation itself is a write action.

From the tool's definition Create a task, assign it to an agent, require acknowledgement by default, notify the assignee, and record a delegation event.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

Recommended rule Ready

Verdict

delegate Rate-limited

delegate stays usable, but capped — an agent stuck in a loop can't make hundreds of changes a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "delegate": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "delegate_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 30,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

LIMIT THIS TOOL →

Instant setup, no code required.

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

FAQ

Questions about delegate

What does the delegate tool do? +

Create a task, assign it to an agent, require acknowledgement by default, notify the assignee, and record a delegation event. Use for long-running work instead of ask. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Agent Bus MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.

How do I enforce a policy on delegate? +

Register the Agent Bus MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for delegate: 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 Agent Bus. Nothing to install.

What risk level is delegate? +

delegate is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.

Can I rate-limit delegate? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the delegate 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 delegate completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for delegate. 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 delegate? +

delegate is provided by the Agent Bus MCP server (mustaphasteph/agent-bus). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.