AI agents call sally_usage to retrieve information from Cynical Sally without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
The tool performs a read operation to check user details or usage metrics. No modification, deletion, or execution of external operations is indicated. The vague description ('Check the user') is minimal but consistent with a read/query action. Confidence is slightly reduced due to the uninformative description, but the name and context suggest this is a simple lookup tool.
From the tool's definition Tool name is 'sally_usage' with description 'Check the user' - this indicates a query/lookup operation that retrieves user information or usage statistics without modifying data.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access sally_usage gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Cynical Sally, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for sally_usage:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"sally_usage": {}
}
}sally_usage is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Check the user. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Cynical Sally MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Cynical Sally MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for sally_usage: 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 Cynical Sally. Nothing to install.
sally_usage 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 sally_usage 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 sally_usage. 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.
sally_usage is provided by the Cynical Sally MCP server (w1ckedxt/cynical-sally). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Deterministic rules across all 8 Cynical Sally tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
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8 Cynical Sally tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 42,500+ MCP servers.