Brave Search

Search the web with Brave's independent index — web, news, images, and videos.

CommunityOnlineAPI key requiredGlobalFreeRead-only

What it can do

  • Brave Web Search: Performs web searches using the Brave Search API and returns comprehensive search results with rich metadata. To chain into local-POI enrichment, pass `result_filter=locations` and f
  • Brave News Search: Searches for news articles using Brave's News Search API. Use it when you need current news, breaking updates, or articles about specific topics.
  • Brave Image Search: Performs an image search using the Brave Search API. Helpful when you need pictures of people, places, things, graphic-design ideas, or art inspiration. Counts of up to 100 are sup

What data it sees

Do you need an account

An API key from the service settings is required

Search the web with Brave's independent index — web, news, images, and videos. Bring your own subscription token from the Brave Search API dashboard.

How to connect

How to connect Brave Search to Claude

The server address to paste into Claude settings:

https://brave.run.tools

  1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
  2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
  3. Click Add custom connector.
  4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
  5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

Authorization

After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

How to connect Brave Search to ChatGPT

The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

https://brave.run.tools

  1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
  2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
  3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
  4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
  5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
  6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

Authorization

On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

How to connect Brave Search to Cursor

The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

https://brave.run.tools

Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

Manually:

  1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
  2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
  3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

Authorization

If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

Server tool list (8)

Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

brave_web_searchPerforms web searches using the Brave Search API and returns comprehensive search results with rich metadata. To chain into local-POI enrichment, pass `result_filter=locations` and feed the resulting `locations.results[].id` values into `brave_local_search`. To chain into the AI summarizer, pass `summary=true` and feed the returned `summarizer.key` into `brave_summarizer`.
brave_news_searchSearches for news articles using Brave's News Search API. Use it when you need current news, breaking updates, or articles about specific topics.
brave_image_searchPerforms an image search using the Brave Search API. Helpful when you need pictures of people, places, things, graphic-design ideas, or art inspiration. Counts of up to 100 are supported.
brave_video_searchSearches for videos using Brave's Video Search API. Returns structured video results with metadata.
brave_local_searchBrave Local Search API returns enriched information (address, phone, hours, rating) for location-search results. Access requires the Brave Search API Pro plan; currently US-only. Two-step flow: first call `brave_web_search` with `result_filter=locations` to obtain `locations.results[].id`, then pass them here. NOTE: This tool takes location IDs from a prior web-search response; if you have a free-text query, call `brave_web_search` first.
brave_llm_contextRetrieves pre-extracted, relevance-ranked web content using Brave's LLM Context API, optimized for AI agents, LLM grounding, and RAG pipelines. Unlike a traditional web search that returns links and short descriptions, this tool returns the actual substance of matching pages — text chunks, tables, code blocks, and structured data — so the model can reason over it directly. When relaying results in markdown-supporting environments, cite source URLs from the `sources` map.
brave_place_searchSearches Brave's Place Search API. A single call may populate any combination of `results` (POIs), `cities`, `addresses`, `streets`, and `location` (the resolved search area), depending on the query shape. Use for POIs near coordinates or a named area, browsing general POIs (omit `query`, supply coords or `location`), disambiguating bare city names, resolving specific addresses, or looking up streets. Anchor via `latitude`+`longitude` or `location`; with neither, `query` is required.
brave_summarizerRetrieves AI-generated summaries of web search results. Two-step flow: first call `brave_web_search` with `summary=true` to obtain `summarizer.key`, then pass it here. Pro AI tier required.