Check the health status of a target. Returns circuit state, failure count, and cooldown.
AI agents call circuit_status to retrieve information from SelfHeal MCP without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves observability data about circuit breaker state without causing side effects or state changes. It is a pure read operation that queries monitoring/health information, consistent with the Read category pattern of retrieving data with no side effects.
From the tool's definition Tool name and description indicate it only checks and returns status information: 'Check the health status of a target. Returns circuit state, failure count, and cooldown.' No modification, deletion, or execution of external operations is described.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Check the health status of a target. Returns circuit state, failure count, and cooldown. It is categorised as a Read tool in the SelfHeal MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the SelfHeal MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for circuit_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 SelfHeal MCP. Nothing to install.
circuit_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 circuit_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 circuit_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.
circuit_status is provided by the SelfHeal MCP server (selfheal-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.
Teams ship this data inside their own products. See what a licence covers →