List governance rules configured in the workspace.
AI agents call list_governance_rules to retrieve information from Databricks MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool only retrieves and displays existing governance rules from the workspace. It is a read-only query operation that does not create, modify, delete, or execute any code. The blast radius of misuse is minimal - at worst, an attacker gains visibility into the workspace's governance configuration, which does not directly enable further attacks without additional write or execute capabilities.
From the tool's definition Tool name contains 'list' and description states 'List governance rules configured in the workspace' - a retrieval operation with no modification or side effects.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_governance_rules gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Databricks MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_governance_rules:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_governance_rules": {}
}
}list_governance_rules is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List governance rules configured in the workspace. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Databricks MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Databricks MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_governance_rules: 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 Databricks MCP Server. Nothing to install.
list_governance_rules 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 list_governance_rules 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 list_governance_rules. 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.
list_governance_rules is provided by the Databricks MCP Server MCP server (pulkitxchadha/awesome-databricks-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Databricks MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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86 Databricks MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.