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g-samroberts merged 3 commits into from
Mar 9, 2026
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docs: document tool exclusion from memory via deny policy #21428

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docs: document that global deny rules remove tools from model memory …
Abhijit-2592 Mar 6, 2026
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docs: clarify that tools.exclude is replaced by policy engine
Abhijit-2592 Mar 6, 2026
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Update docs/reference/policy-engine.md
g-samroberts Mar 9, 2026
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9 changes: 8 additions & 1 deletion docs/reference/policy-engine.md
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Expand Up @@ -91,10 +91,17 @@ the arguments don't match the pattern, the rule does not apply.
There are three possible decisions a rule can enforce:

- `allow`: The tool call is executed automatically without user interaction.
- `deny`: The tool call is blocked and is not executed.
- `deny`: The tool call is blocked and is not executed. For global rules (those
without an `argsPattern`), tools that are denied are **completely excluded
from the model's memory**. This means the model will not even see the tool as
an option, which is more secure and saves context window space.
- `ask_user`: The user is prompted to approve or deny the tool call. (In
non-interactive mode, this is treated as `deny`.)

> [!NOTE] The `deny` decision is the recommended way to exclude tools. The
> legacy `excludeTools` setting in `settings.json` is deprecated in favor of
> policy rules with a `deny` decision.

### Priority system and tiers

The policy engine uses a sophisticated priority system to resolve conflicts when
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