The Brave Search MCP Server integrates the Brave Search API with Claude's Model Context Protocol, enabling both web and local search capabilities. This server allows Claude to search for general information, news, local businesses, and services with advanced filtering options.
Before setting up the server, you'll need:
To use the server with Docker, add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json
:
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"-e",
"BRAVE_API_KEY",
"mcp/brave-search"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Be sure to replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
with your actual Brave Search API key.
To use the server with NPX, add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json
:
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Again, replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
with your actual Brave Search API key.
Once configured, Claude can access two main search tools:
The brave_web_search
tool allows general web searches with several options:
Parameters:
query
(string, required): Your search termscount
(number, optional): Results per page (maximum 20)offset
(number, optional): Pagination offset (maximum 9)Example usage: Ask Claude to search for information using commands like:
The brave_local_search
tool searches for local businesses and services:
Parameters:
query
(string, required): Local search termscount
(number, optional): Number of results (maximum 20)If no local results are found, this automatically falls back to web search.
Example usage: Ask Claude to find local businesses with commands like:
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.
To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".
When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json
file will be opened and you can add your server like this:
{
"mcpServers": {
"cursor-rules-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"cursor-rules-mcp"
]
}
}
}
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.
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 explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.