Search for available tools across all connected MCP servers.
AI agents call gateway.catalog_search to retrieve information from PMCP without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool queries and retrieves metadata about available tools from connected servers. It performs discovery and enumeration without modifying, executing, or deleting anything. The only potential concern is information disclosure (learning what tools exist), but in the context of a gateway managing multiple MCP servers, this is a standard introspection capability.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Search[es] for available tools across all connected MCP servers.' The verb 'search' and the scope (querying available tools metadata) indicate a read-only retrieval operation with no side effects or data modification.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access gateway.catalog_search gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and PMCP, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for gateway.catalog_search:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"gateway.catalog_search": {}
}
}gateway.catalog_search is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Search for available tools across all connected MCP servers. It is categorised as a Read tool in the PMCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the P MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for gateway.catalog_search: 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 PMCP. Nothing to install.
gateway.catalog_search 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 gateway.catalog_search 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 gateway.catalog_search. 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.
gateway.catalog_search is provided by the P MCP server (viperjuice/pmcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from PMCP, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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26 PMCP tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.