This record as markdown: /tools/stripe/retrieve-balance.md
What retrieve_balance does on Stripe
AI agents call retrieve_balance to retrieve information from Stripe without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
Why retrieve_balance is rated Low
This tool queries account balance information without creating, modifying, or deleting data. It has no side effects and does not move money or commit financial obligations. While it accesses financial information (which could inform decisions), the act of retrieval itself poses minimal risk—it is purely observational.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'retrieve_balance' and description 'Retrieve account balance' indicate a read-only query operation that retrieves financial data without modifying it.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs retrieve_balance safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Stripe, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For retrieve_balance, this is the rule to start with:
retrieve_balance is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Stripe, apply this rule, and every retrieve_balance call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about retrieve_balance
Retrieve account balance. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Stripe MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Stripe MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for retrieve_balance: 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 Stripe. Nothing to install.
retrieve_balance 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 retrieve_balance 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 retrieve_balance. 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.
retrieve_balance is provided by the Stripe MCP server (@modelcontextprotocol/server-stripe). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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