List recent drafts (unpublished posts).
AI agents call list_drafts to retrieve information from Substack without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries and returns information about unpublished drafts without modifying, deleting, or publishing any data. It is a straightforward read operation. Severity is low because listing drafts poses minimal risk—an AI agent cannot cause harm by merely viewing draft metadata. The confidence is high because the intent is unambiguous.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'list_drafts' and description 'List recent drafts (unpublished posts)' indicate a retrieval operation with no side effects.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_drafts gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Substack, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_drafts:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_drafts": {}
}
}list_drafts is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List recent drafts (unpublished posts). It is categorised as a Read tool in the Substack MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Substack MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_drafts: 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 Substack. Nothing to install.
list_drafts 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_drafts 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_drafts. 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_drafts is provided by the Substack MCP server (nanameru/substack-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Substack, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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11 Substack tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.