Scroll vertically (positive=up, negative=down).
AI agents invoke scroll_mouse to trigger actions in Wayland. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.
Scrolling is a UI interaction that causes external side effects (moving viewport, triggering scroll events in applications) but does not read, write, or destroy data. It falls under Execute as it performs a desktop input action whose effects depend on arguments and current application state. Blast radius is low since scrolling is generally non-destructive and reversible.
From the tool's definition Scroll vertically (positive=up, negative=down) — triggers a mouse scroll action on the Wayland desktop
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access scroll_mouse gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Wayland, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for scroll_mouse:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"scroll_mouse": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "scroll_mouse_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 10,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}scroll_mouse stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
Free to start. No card required.
Scroll vertically (positive=up, negative=down). It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Wayland MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.
Register the Wayland MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for scroll_mouse: 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 Wayland. Nothing to install.
scroll_mouse is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the scroll_mouse 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 scroll_mouse. 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.
scroll_mouse is provided by the Wayland MCP server (someaka/wayland-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Wayland, 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.
9 Wayland tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.