Returns memory health status including health score, entry counts, and warnings.
AI agents call cortex_status to retrieve information from Cortex Memory without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and reports diagnostic information about memory health (health score, entry counts, warnings) with no side effects or data modification. It is a pure read operation used for monitoring system state, making it the lowest-risk category.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'cortex_status' and description 'Returns memory health status' indicate a query operation that retrieves status information without modifying data. The verb 'Returns' and the nature of status checks confirm read-only behavior.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access cortex_status gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Cortex Memory, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for cortex_status:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"cortex_status": {}
}
}cortex_status is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Returns memory health status including health score, entry counts, and warnings. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Cortex Memory MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Cortex Memory MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for cortex_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 Cortex Memory. Nothing to install.
cortex_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 cortex_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 cortex_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.
cortex_status is provided by the Cortex Memory MCP server (skullfire07/cortex-memory). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Cortex Memory, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
Free to start. No card required.
5 Cortex Memory tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.