Retrieve the most recently submitted stories, sorted by date descending.
AI agents call get_latest_stories to retrieve information from HackerNews 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 Hacker News content (stories) sorted by date. It performs no writes, deletes, code execution, or financial operations. The blast radius of misuse is minimal—an agent could retrieve excessive data or cause minor API rate-limiting, but cannot modify content, delete records, execute code, or commit financial transactions. Classified as Read severity low.
From the tool's definition The tool name 'get_latest_stories' and description 'Retrieve the most recently submitted stories' directly indicate a read-only query operation that retrieves data without modification.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Retrieve the most recently submitted stories, sorted by date descending. It is categorised as a Read tool in the HackerNews MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the HackerNews MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_latest_stories: 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 HackerNews MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_latest_stories 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 get_latest_stories 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 get_latest_stories. 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.
get_latest_stories is provided by the HackerNews MCP Server MCP server (sam3690/hackernews_mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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