get-workflow · Scratchpad MCP: Risk & Policy

WHAT IT DOES

What get-workflow does on Scratchpad MCP

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

WHY IT NEEDS A POLICY

Why get-workflow needs a policy

This tool performs a straightforward lookup/query operation to fetch workflow data by identifier. There is no indication of creation, modification, deletion, code execution, or financial impact. The retrieval of existing workflow information constitutes a Read category operation with low severity as misuse would only expose data without altering systems or resources.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'get-workflow' and description 'Retrieve a workflow by its ID' indicate data retrieval with no modification or side effects. The optional 'scratchpads summary' is also a read-only informational component.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

Questions about get-workflow

What does the get-workflow tool do? +

Retrieve a workflow by its ID with optional scratchpads summary. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Scratchpad MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on get-workflow? +

Register the Scratchpad MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get-workflow: 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 Scratchpad MCP. Nothing to install.

What risk level is get-workflow? +

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

Can I rate-limit get-workflow? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get-workflow 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 get-workflow completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get-workflow. 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 get-workflow? +

get-workflow is provided by the Scratchpad MCP server (pc035860/scratchpad-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.