create-contact · Outlook Assistant MCP: Risk & Policy

WHAT IT DOES

What create-contact does on Outlook Assistant

AI agents use create-contact to create or update resources in Outlook Assistant — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Outlook Assistant environment.

WHY IT NEEDS A POLICY

Why create-contact needs a policy

This tool creates new contact records, which is a reversible modification of data (contacts can be edited or deleted). It does not retrieve data (Read), execute arbitrary operations (Execute), permanently destroy data (Destructive), or involve financial transactions (Financial). The severity is low because creating unwanted contacts has minimal blast radius and can be easily remedied by deletion.

From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Creates a new contact in your Outlook address book' - the verb 'creates' and the action of adding new data to the address book clearly indicate a Write operation that modifies data reversibly.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

Recommended rule Ready

Verdict

create-contact Rate-limited

create-contact stays usable, but capped — an agent stuck in a loop can't make hundreds of changes a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "create-contact": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "create-contact_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 30,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

LIMIT THIS TOOL →

Instant setup, no code required.

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: every tool call is checked against your rule before it reaches Outlook Assistant, so you can run agents against it safely.

FAQ

Questions about create-contact

What does the create-contact tool do? +

Creates a new contact in your Outlook address book. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Outlook Assistant MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.

How do I enforce a policy on create-contact? +

Register the Outlook Assistant MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for create-contact: 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 Outlook Assistant. Nothing to install.

What risk level is create-contact? +

create-contact is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.

Can I rate-limit create-contact? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the create-contact 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.

How do I block create-contact completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for create-contact. 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.

What MCP server provides create-contact? +

create-contact is provided by the Outlook Assistant MCP server (titanzero/outlook-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.