Get detailed information about a specific HPO term by its ID
AI agents call get_hpo_term to retrieve information from Unofficial HPO MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a lookup/fetch operation on the Human Phenotype Ontology database to return information about a phenotypic term. It has no capability to modify, delete, or execute operations. The blast radius of misuse is minimal — an agent querying arbitrary HPO term IDs retrieves only existing public reference data. This is a standard Read operation.
From the tool's definition Tool retrieves 'detailed information about a specific HPO term by its ID' — a pure query operation with no data modification, deletion, or side effects. The description explicitly states it 'gets' information, which is a retrieval operation.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get detailed information about a specific HPO term by its ID. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Unofficial HPO MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Unofficial HPO MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_hpo_term: 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 Unofficial HPO MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_hpo_term 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 get_hpo_term 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 get_hpo_term. 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.
get_hpo_term is provided by the Unofficial HPO MCP Server MCP server (openpharma-org/hpo-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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