Get course announcements. Can retrieve announcements from a specific course or across all courses, sorted by most recent first.
AI agents call get_announcements to retrieve information from Canvas MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool only retrieves and queries announcement data from Canvas LMS with no side effects. It performs a simple data retrieval operation (list/fetch) without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing anything. The read-only nature and low sensitivity of announcement data (publicly visible course information) results in low severity.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'get_announcements' and description stating it 'retrieves announcements' with no mention of modification, deletion, or execution capabilities. Returns read-only data about course announcements.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get course announcements. Can retrieve announcements from a specific course or across all courses, sorted by most recent first. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Canvas MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Canvas MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_announcements: 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 Canvas MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_announcements 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 get_announcements 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 get_announcements. 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.
get_announcements is provided by the Canvas MCP Server MCP server (taciturnaxolotl/canvas-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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