Search for GitHub repositories by name, description, or topic keywords using the GitHub Search API.
AI agents call search_repos to retrieve information from Gread without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
q | string | — | Keyword to search in repository names, descriptions, or topics |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
This tool retrieves and queries publicly available GitHub repository metadata (name, description, topics) but does not create, modify, delete, or execute any code. The search operation is a read operation with no side effects. Severity is low because the blast radius of misuse is limited to accessing public data that is already publicly discoverable through GitHub's standard interface.
From the tool's definition Tool performs search operations on GitHub repositories using the GitHub Search API. The description and sibling tools (list_tree, read_code, search_code, view_repo) all indicate read-only operations that retrieve or query public data without modifying…
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access search_repos gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Gread, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for search_repos:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"search_repos": {}
}
}search_repos is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Search for GitHub repositories by name, description, or topic keywords using the GitHub Search API. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Gread MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
search_repos accepts 1 parameter: q. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Gread MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_repos: 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 Gread. Nothing to install.
search_repos 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 search_repos 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 search_repos. 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.
search_repos is provided by the Gread MCP server (nitrofire-q/gread). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Gread, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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5 Gread tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.