Look up an AI Dictionary term by name or slug (fuzzy match).
AI agents call lookup_term to retrieve information from Phenomenai without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries data from the Phenomenai glossary without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is a straightforward read operation that returns information about AI phenomenology terms. The fuzzy matching search is still fundamentally a read/query operation. Low severity because misuse poses minimal risk—an agent cannot cause harm by looking up dictionary terms.
From the tool's definition Tool performs a lookup by name or slug with fuzzy matching against a dictionary/glossary. The description explicitly states 'Look up' which is a retrieval operation with no modification or side effects.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Look up an AI Dictionary term by name or slug (fuzzy match). It is categorised as a Read tool in the Phenomenai MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Phenomenai MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for lookup_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 Phenomenai. Nothing to install.
lookup_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 lookup_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 lookup_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.
lookup_term is provided by the Phenomenai MCP server (phenomenai-org/ai-dictionary-mcp). 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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