publish_flow

Publish (activate) a draft flow or subflow. [Write]

SERVERNowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit SOURCEnowaikit

Medium RISK CLASS

Category Write

Parameters 00 required

Recommended Rate-limitedsee the rule below

Registry record Grade F, identity verified Pull the record →

This record as markdown: /tools/nowaikit-servicenow-ai-toolkit/publish-flow.md

WHAT IT DOES

What publish_flow does on NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit

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

RISK

Why publish_flow is rated Medium

Publishing a flow activates it for production use, creating a reversible but significant operational change. This is a Write operation because it modifies the state of a flow object (from draft/inactive to published/active). It is not Destructive because publishing is reversible (a flow can be unpublished).

From the tool's definition Tool name is 'publish_flow' with description: 'Publish (activate) a draft flow or subflow.' The description explicitly states this activates a draft flow, which transitions it from inactive to active/live status.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

RECOMMENDED RULE

The rule that runs publish_flow safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For publish_flow, this is the rule to start with:

publish_flow Rate-limited

publish_flow 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": {
    "publish_flow": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "publish_flow_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 30,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

LIMIT THIS TOOL → Instant setup, no code required.

The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit, apply this rule, and every publish_flow call is checked against it from then on.

FAQ

Questions about publish_flow

What does the publish_flow tool do? +

Publish (activate) a draft flow or subflow. [Write]. It is categorised as a Write tool in the NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.

How do I enforce a policy on publish_flow? +

Register the NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for publish_flow: 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 NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit. Nothing to install.

What risk level is publish_flow? +

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

Can I rate-limit publish_flow? +

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

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

publish_flow is provided by the NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit MCP server (nowaikit). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

KEEP EXPLORING

More on NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit, and thousands of servers like it.

This server

All 410 NowAIKit — ServiceNow AI Toolkit tools →

Across the catalogue

The MCP Attack Database →

Guides

Govern customer-ops agents →Argument validation →Scoped token →