Publish a knowledge article (sets workflow_state to 'published').
AI agents use publish_article to create or update resources in Snow — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Snow environment.
This tool creates a permanent change to article metadata that affects system behavior and user visibility, classifying it as Write rather than Read. The modification is reversible (articles can be unpublished), so it does not qualify as Destructive.
From the tool's definition publish_article - Publish a knowledge article (sets workflow_state to 'published'). This operation modifies the workflow_state field of an article record from a non-published state to 'published', making it visible to users in the knowledge base.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access publish_article gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Snow, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for publish_article:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"publish_article": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "publish_article_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 30,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}publish_article stays usable, but capped — an agent stuck in a loop can't make hundreds of changes a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Publish a knowledge article (sets workflow_state to 'published'). It is categorised as a Write tool in the Snow MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.
Register the Snow MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for publish_article: 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 Snow. Nothing to install.
publish_article is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the publish_article 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 publish_article. 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.
publish_article is provided by the Snow MCP server (shunyaai/snow-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Snow, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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88 Snow tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.