Check the status of a running or completed crawl.
AI agents call crawl_status to retrieve information from Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves the current state of a crawl (running, completed, etc.) with no side effects. It is a read-only operation that queries existing data, consistent with the 'Read' category definition of retrieving or querying data with no side effects. The low severity reflects that status checks pose minimal risk—they cannot alter data, execute code, or cause financial harm.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'crawl_status' and description 'Check the status of a running or completed crawl' indicate a query operation that retrieves status information without modifying or executing operations.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Check the status of a running or completed crawl. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for crawl_status: 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 Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP Server. Nothing to install.
crawl_status 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 crawl_status 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 crawl_status. 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.
crawl_status is provided by the Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP Server MCP server (pypi:screaming-frog-mcp). 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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