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At a glance

  • Availability: Experimental (how to enable).
  • Authentication: API key.
  • Connection: The key from BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY is sent as the X-Subscription-Token header.
  • Provider documentation: Authentication reference.

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Credentials

Set these per environment. See Connect an integration.

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Setup

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Create an API key: Open https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/keys and generate a subscription token for your plan.
  4. Store the key: Add it to your .env file as BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY=…
  5. 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.

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Provider notes

  • 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
Provider API reference.

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Tools

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Verify the connection

Call a read tool such as brave-search__web_search with arguments for your account. Confirm that the result comes from the intended account or workspace before enabling write tools.