List all tags in your Bear library as a hierarchical tree. Shows tag names with note counts. Useful for understanding your tag structure and finding tags to apply to untagged notes. Counts include only active notes (trashed and archived are excluded). Tags with zero active notes are not shown.
AI agents call bear-list-tags to retrieve information from Bear Notes without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and displays metadata about the user's tag structure without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is purely informational and read-only, making it a Read category tool with low severity.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'bear-list-tags' and description states it 'List all tags' and 'Shows tag names with note counts.' This is a query/retrieval operation with no side effects.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access bear-list-tags gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Bear Notes, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for bear-list-tags:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"bear-list-tags": {}
}
}bear-list-tags is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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List all tags in your Bear library as a hierarchical tree. Shows tag names with note counts. Useful for understanding your tag structure and finding tags to apply to untagged notes. Counts include only active notes (trashed and archived are excluded). Tags with zero active notes are not shown. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Bear Notes MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Bear Notes MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for bear-list-tags: 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 Bear Notes. Nothing to install.
bear-list-tags 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 bear-list-tags 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 bear-list-tags. 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.
bear-list-tags is provided by the Bear Notes MCP server (vasylenko/bear-notes-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Deterministic rules across all 13 Bear Notes tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
Free to start. No card required.
13 Bear Notes tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 42,500+ MCP servers.