Use when: you need to find photos matching one or more filters — album, keyword, person, ISO date range, favorite/hidden flags, photo/movie type, or title/description substrings — and get back a list of matches. This is the primary search/discovery tool; start here when you don
AI agents call query to retrieve information from Apple Photos without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool performs pure read operations—searching and filtering the macOS Apple Photos library to return matching results. It has no side effects, does not modify or delete data, and does not execute arbitrary code or commands. The blast radius of misuse is minimal; an agent could only retrieve photo metadata or lists of photos the user already owns, with no destructive or financial consequences.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it is used to 'find photos matching one or more filters' and 'get back a list of matches.' The description explicitly identifies it as 'the primary search/discovery tool' with no mention of modification, deletion, or execution of…
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Use when: you need to find photos matching one or more filters — album, keyword, person, ISO date range, favorite/hidden flags, photo/movie type, or title/description substrings — and get back a list of matches. This is the primary search/discovery tool; start here when you don. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apple Photos MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Apple Photos MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for query: 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 Apple Photos. Nothing to install.
query 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 query 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 query. 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.
query is provided by the Apple Photos MCP server (sweetrb/apple-photos-mcp). 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.
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