Browse recent sessions with smart activity detection and summaries
AI agents call list_recent_sessions to retrieve information from Claude Historian without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool merely lists and browses existing conversation history without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It retrieves metadata about past sessions for informational purposes only, making it a Read operation. Low severity because exposure allows only viewing of the user's own historical data with no external effects or destructive potential.
From the tool's definition Tool description states 'Browse recent sessions' which retrieves historical session data. The name 'list_recent_sessions' and sibling tools like 'search', 'search_conversations', and 'find_file_context' all indicate query/retrieval operations with no…
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access list_recent_sessions gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Claude Historian, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for list_recent_sessions:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"list_recent_sessions": {}
}
}list_recent_sessions is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Browse recent sessions with smart activity detection and summaries. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Claude Historian MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Claude Historian MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for list_recent_sessions: 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 Claude Historian. Nothing to install.
list_recent_sessions 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 list_recent_sessions 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 list_recent_sessions. 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.
list_recent_sessions is provided by the Claude Historian MCP server (vvkmnn/claude-historian-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Deterministic rules across all 9 Claude Historian tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
Free to start. No card required.
9 Claude Historian tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 42,500+ MCP servers.