This record as markdown: /tools/openclaw/policy.md
What policy does on OpenClaw
AI agents call policy to retrieve information from OpenClaw without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
Why policy is rated Low
The tool checks (reads) policy requirements and emits audit evidence, which is a read/reporting operation with no side effects. Emitting audit evidence could be considered a Write, but in security contexts 'emit' typically means output/display rather than persist. Confidence is moderate due to the vague description and no server context provided.
From the tool's definition 'Check policy requirements and emit audit evidence' — reads/queries policy state and outputs audit records, no modification implied
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs policy safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and OpenClaw, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For policy, this is the rule to start with:
policy is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect OpenClaw, apply this rule, and every policy call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about policy
Check policy requirements and emit audit evidence. It is categorised as a Read tool in the OpenClaw MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the OpenClaw MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for policy: 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 OpenClaw. Nothing to install.
policy 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 policy 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 policy. 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.
policy is provided by the OpenClaw MCP server (openclaw). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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