Low Risk

list_providers

list_providers

How to control list_providers ↓

What list_providers does on Promptheus

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

Low Risk

Why list_providers needs a policy

This tool appears to query or enumerate providers in what seems to be a prompt engineering/LLM management system (Promptheus). Listing operations are non-destructive reads with minimal security blast radius. Confidence is slightly reduced due to lack of explicit description, but the 'list_' prefix is a strong indicator of read-only functionality.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'list_providers' suggests a listing/query operation that retrieves available providers without modifying state. Sibling tools like 'list_models' reinforce this pattern of read-only enumeration.

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

How to control list_providers

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

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

list_providers 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 Promptheus — 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 list_providers

What does the list_providers tool do? +

list_providers. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Promptheus MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on list_providers? +

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

What risk level is list_providers? +

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

Can I rate-limit list_providers? +

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

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

list_providers is provided by the Promptheus MCP server (pypi:promptheus). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Promptheus tool call.

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

Free to start. No card required.

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

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