Brave Search MCP server for AI agents

Brave Search MCP Server provides a seamless integration with the Brave Search API, enabling web search, local points of interest search, video search, image search, and news search capabilities through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Features

Web Search: Perform regular web searches
Image Search: Find images on the web
News Search: Discover news articles and trending topics
Video Search: Search for videos across the web
Local Points of Interest Search: Find local businesses, restaurants, and services

Installation Options

Prerequisites

Before installing, you need to obtain a Brave Search API key:

Sign up for a Brave Search API account
Choose a plan (Free tier available with 2,000 queries/month)
Generate your API key from the developer dashboard

Installation for Claude Code

For Claude Code users, run one of these commands in your terminal:

Windows:

claude mcp add-json brave-search '{"command":"cmd","args":["/c","npx","-y","brave-search-mcp"],"env":{"BRAVE_API_KEY":"YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"}}'

Linux/macOS:

claude mcp add-json brave-search '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","brave-search-mcp"],"env":{"BRAVE_API_KEY":"YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"}}'

Remember to replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual Brave Search API key.

Installation for Claude Desktop

Using Desktop Extension (DXT)

Open Claude Desktop
Go to File -> Settings -> Extensions
Drag the .DXT file to the window to install it

Using Docker

Build the Docker image:

docker build -t brave-search-mcp:latest -f ./Dockerfile .

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcp-servers": {
    "brave-search": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "BRAVE_API_KEY",
        "brave-search-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR API KEY HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using NPX

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcp-servers": {
    "brave-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "brave-search-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR API KEY HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Installation for LibreChat

Add this to your librechat.yaml configuration file:

brave-search:
  command: sh
  args:
    - -c
    - BRAVE_API_KEY=API KEY npx -y brave-search-mcp

Using the MCP Tools

The Brave Search MCP Server provides several tools for different search functionalities:

Web Search

brave_web_search

Inputs:

query (string): The search term
count (number, optional): Number of results (max 20, default 10)
offset (number, optional): Starting position for results (default 0)
freshness (enum, optional): Filter by discovery time
- pd: Last 24 hours
- pw: Last 7 days
- pm: Last 31 days
- py: Last 365 days
- Custom date range (format: YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD)

Image Search

brave_image_search

Inputs:

query (string): The term to search for images
count (number, optional): Number of images (max 3, default 1)

News Search

brave_news_search

Inputs:

query (string): Term to search for news articles or trending topics
count (number, optional): Number of results (max 20, default 10)
freshness (enum, optional): Same options as web search

Local Search

brave_local_search

Note: Requires subscription to the Pro API plan for location results. Falls back to web search if no location results are found.

Inputs:

query (string): Local search term
count (number, optional): Number of results (max 20, default 5)

Video Search

brave_video_search

Inputs:

query (string): Term to search for videos
count (number, optional): Number of videos (max 20, default 10)
freshness (enum, optional): Same options as web search

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "brave-search" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","brave-search-mcp"],"env":{"BRAVE_API_KEY":"YOUR API KEY HERE"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "brave-search": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "brave-search-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR API KEY HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "brave-search": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "brave-search-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR API KEY HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect