Use this tool when you need to find a contact (customer or user) in Intercom. Call it when you have an email address, name, or phone number and need to retrieve the contact
AI agents call search_contacts to retrieve information from Intercom MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
search_contacts performs a query operation to retrieve existing contact data without modifying, deleting, or executing any external operations. This is a standard read operation with minimal risk if misused by an AI agent—the worst outcome would be accessing contact information that may or may not be sensitive, but the tool itself cannot cause data loss, financial harm, or destructive changes.
From the tool's definition Tool is used to 'find a contact' and 'retrieve the contact' using email, name, or phone number. The description explicitly indicates a retrieval operation with no modifications or side effects.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Use this tool when you need to find a contact (customer or user) in Intercom. Call it when you have an email address, name, or phone number and need to retrieve the contact. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Intercom MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Intercom MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_contacts: 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 Intercom MCP Server. Nothing to install.
search_contacts 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 search_contacts 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 search_contacts. 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.
search_contacts is provided by the Intercom MCP Server MCP server (shackletonanalytics/intercom-mcp-server). 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 →