AI agents call list-terminals to retrieve information from iTerm MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries and returns information about active iTerm2 terminals without creating, modifying, executing commands, or deleting anything. It is a non-destructive read operation with minimal security impact—it exposes terminal metadata but does not execute code or affect system state. The blast radius is low as this information is already accessible to the user and provides no ability to modify resources.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'list-terminals' and description 'List all active terminals and their information' indicate pure data retrieval with no modifications or side effects.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list-terminals gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and iTerm MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list-terminals:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list-terminals": {}
}
}list-terminals is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List all active terminals and their information. It is categorised as a Read tool in the iTerm MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the iTerm MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list-terminals: 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 iTerm MCP Server. Nothing to install.
list-terminals 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-terminals 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-terminals. 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-terminals is provided by the iTerm MCP Server MCP server (rishabkoul/iterm-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from iTerm 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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5 iTerm MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.