At a glance
- Availability: Experimental (how to enable).
- Auth: API key.
- Connection: The key from
BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEYis sent as theX-Subscription-Tokenheader. - Docs: https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation
Credentials
Set these per environment. See Connect an integration.| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY | Yes | Brave Search API subscription token from the API dashboard Docs. |
Setup
- Create an API account: Go to https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com and register (separate from a regular Brave account). Adding a payment method is required to activate a subscription.
- Choose a plan and get credits: Pick a plan in the dashboard. The API is credit-based - you purchase request credits rather than getting a permanent free tier; new accounts may receive a small trial credit.
- Create an API key: Open https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/keys and generate a subscription token for your plan.
- Store the key: Add it to your .env file as BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY=…
- Verify access: Run the Web Search tool with a simple query. A 401 means the token is invalid or sent in the wrong header (it must be X-Subscription-Token, not Authorization); a 429 means you exceeded your plan’s rate limit.
- The API is credit/usage-based with no permanent free tier - monitor remaining credits in the dashboard
- The API key goes in the X-Subscription-Token header; Authorization: Bearer will be rejected
- Some endpoints (e.g. Local/POI details) are only available on higher-tier (Pro) plans
- Web Search pagination is limited: count max 20 per request, offset max 9
Tools
| Tool | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Web Search | Read | Search the web and get ranked results from Brave’s independent index |
| News Search | Read | Search recent and historical news articles from trusted outlets worldwide |
| Image Search | Read | Search Brave’s image index and get image URLs with source page metadata |
| Video Search | Read | Search for videos and get results with titles, creators, durations, and thumbnails |
| Get Local Descriptions | Read | Get AI-generated text descriptions for up to 20 locations using location IDs returned in a Web Search response’s locations results |
| Get Local Places | Read | Get rich details (address, hours, ratings, pictures) for up to 20 locations using location IDs returned in a Web Search response’s locations results |
Example prompts
- Search the web with Brave for a topic I provide and summarize the top results with links.
- Search Brave News for the latest articles on a topic I provide and give me a short briefing.
- Search Brave for a type of business near a location I provide and show details for the top matches.