Find all notes that link to a specific note.
AI agents call obsidian_find_backlinks to retrieve information from Mcp Apple Obsidian without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs a search/query operation to discover backlinks—incoming references to a note. It retrieves information about the vault's link structure but does not modify, create, delete, or execute any operations. The action is read-only with no side effects, consistent with the Read category.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'obsidian_find_backlinks' and description 'Find all notes that link to a specific note' indicate a query operation that retrieves existing link data without modification.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Find all notes that link to a specific note. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Mcp Apple Obsidian MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Mcp Apple Obsidian MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for obsidian_find_backlinks: 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 Mcp Apple Obsidian. Nothing to install.
obsidian_find_backlinks 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 obsidian_find_backlinks 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 obsidian_find_backlinks. 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.
obsidian_find_backlinks is provided by the Mcp Apple Obsidian MCP server (rex/mcp-apple-obsidian). 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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