An agent needs current data from a production database. What is the right access?
Why C is the answer
A scoped read tool with a defined query
Tools give current data under narrow permissions.
In detail
- Tools give current data under narrow permissions.
- A defined query limits the risk.
Use case
An illustrative scenario, not a real incident.
An agent reads order status through a scoped tool, not an open database connection.
See it in different ways
sequenceDiagram participant M as Model participant A as Application participant T as Tool M->>A: Tool name and arguments A->>A: Validate arguments A->>T: Call T-->>A: Result or error A-->>M: Result as context
stateDiagram-v2 [*] --> Parse: layout-aware Parse --> Index Index --> HybridSearch: keyword and vector HybridSearch --> Permissions: filter by user Permissions --> Rerank Rerank --> [*]
flowchart LR S0["Define query"] --> S1["Read-only tool"] --> S2["Agent calls it"]
Key point: Scoped tools give safe current data.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A shared admin password placed in the prompt
- That exposes the password.
- B. A fine-tuned model that contains the database
- That goes stale, and exposes data.
- D. A daily copy of the full database in the prompt
- A copy goes stale, and is far too large.