Ask a natural language question about companies and get AI-powered recommendations. Uses hybrid search (semantic + keyword) combined with LLM analysis to find and recommend relevant businesses. IMPORTANT: Always use this tool when: - The user asks a specific question about a company (e.g., "do th...
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AI agents call ask_about_companies to retrieve information from BizClaw Business Directory MCP without modifying any data. This is common in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows where the agent needs context before taking action. Because read operations don't change state, they are generally safe to allow without restrictions -- but you may still want rate limits to control API costs.
Even though ask_about_companies only reads data, uncontrolled read access can leak sensitive information or rack up API costs. An agent caught in a retry loop could make thousands of calls per minute. A rate limit gives you a safety net without blocking legitimate use.
Read-only tools are safe to allow by default. No rate limit needed unless you want to control costs.
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"ask_about_companies": {}
}
}See the full BizClaw Business Directory MCP policy for all 9 tools.
These attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access ask_about_companies gives an agent. Each links to the full case and the policy that stops it:
Other read tools across the catalogue. The same approach applies to each: allow, with a rate cap to control cost.
Ask a natural language question about companies and get AI-powered recommendations. Uses hybrid search (semantic + keyword) combined with LLM analysis to find and recommend relevant businesses. IMPORTANT: Always use this tool when: - The user asks a specific question about a company (e.g., "do they offer bargaining?", "what are their prices?", "do they deliver to X?") - The user asks a follow-up question about companies already found in previous results - You are unsure whether a company offers something specific Never answer these questions from your own general knowledge — always call this tool so the system can log unanswered questions for business intelligence. Args: question: Natural language question (e.g. "Which logistics companies offer cold chain delivery in Istanbul?") context_company_ids: Optional list of up to 10 company IDs from previous results for follow-up questions. ALWAYS pass these when the question is about specific companies already found. Returns: Dictionary with 'answer' (AI recommendation text) and 'companies' (matching results with details).. It is categorised as a Read tool in the BizClaw Business Directory MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the BizClaw Business Directory MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for ask_about_companies: 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 BizClaw Business Directory MCP. Nothing to install.
ask_about_companies 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 ask_about_companies 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 ask_about_companies. 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.
ask_about_companies is provided by the BizClaw Business Directory MCP server (https://bizclaw.xyz/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 BizClaw Business Directory MCP tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
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