Low Risk

kiwix_list_books

List available ZIM books.

How to control kiwix_list_books ↓

What kiwix_list_books does on Kiwix

AI agents call kiwix_list_books to retrieve information from Kiwix without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Low Risk

Why kiwix_list_books needs a policy

The tool retrieves and enumerates metadata about available offline resources (ZIM books) in a Kiwix library. It performs a query-like operation returning a list of available content without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing anything. This is a read-only operation with minimal risk—the worst outcome is obtaining information about what resources exist.

From the tool's definition Tool name is 'kiwix_list_books' and description states it 'List available ZIM books.' This is purely informational retrieval with no side effects.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access kiwix_list_books gives an agent:

How to control kiwix_list_books

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Kiwix, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for kiwix_list_books:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "kiwix_list_books": {}
  }
}

kiwix_list_books is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Kiwix — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
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Related tools and policies

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Questions about kiwix_list_books

What does the kiwix_list_books tool do? +

List available ZIM books. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Kiwix MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on kiwix_list_books? +

Register the Kiwix MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for kiwix_list_books: 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 Kiwix. Nothing to install.

What risk level is kiwix_list_books? +

kiwix_list_books is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit kiwix_list_books? +

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

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

kiwix_list_books is provided by the Kiwix MCP server (oscillatelabsllc/kiwix-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Kiwix tool call.

Start from Kiwix, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

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3 Kiwix tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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