Brave Search MCP Server

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides comprehensive access to Brave Search API capabilities. This server enables AI assistants to perform web searches, retrieve news articles, find videos, explore discussions, discover locations, and access AI-generated summaries - all through a privacy-focused search engine. Perfect for building AI applications that need reliable, real-time web information without compromising user privacy.

Overview

The Brave Search MCP Server integrates the full suite of Brave Search API features into your AI workflows. Whether you need general web search results, specialized content like news articles and videos, location-based information, or AI-generated summaries, this server provides structured access to Brave's independent search index. With support for advanced filtering, localization, content freshness controls, and custom ranking through Goggles, you can tailor search results to your specific needs.

Features

Comprehensive Web Search: Access Brave's independent search index with full parameter control
Specialized Content Search: Dedicated tools for news, videos, discussions, and locations
AI-Powered Summaries: Generate AI summaries of search results automatically
Location Intelligence: Detailed POI information with coordinates, ratings, and opening hours
Advanced Filtering: Filter by content type, freshness, language, and geographic region
Privacy-Focused: Built on Brave Search's privacy-first infrastructure
Pagination Support: Navigate through result sets efficiently
Localization: Support for multiple languages and regional content
Custom Ranking: Use Goggles for personalized search result ranking
Rich Metadata: Access thumbnails, publication dates, view counts, and more

Tools

web_search

Perform comprehensive web searches with full control over search parameters. This is the primary search tool that returns a rich set of results including web pages, discussions, FAQs, news articles, videos, locations, and more.

Parameters:

q (required, string): Your search query, up to 400 characters or 50 words
count (integer): Number of results to return, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code for regional results (e.g., US, GB, DE)
search_lang (string): Language code for search results (e.g., en, es, fr)
ui_lang (string): User interface language (e.g., en-US, es-ES)
safesearch (string): Safe search filter level - off, moderate, or strict
freshness (string): Filter by time period - pd (past day), pw (past week), pm (past month), py (past year), or custom date range (YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD)
result_filter (string): Comma-separated list of result types to include: discussions, faq, infobox, news, query, summarizer, videos, web, locations
goggles (array): List of Goggle URLs or definitions for custom result ranking
goggles_id (string): Goggles ID for custom re-ranking (deprecated)
summary (boolean): Enable AI summary generation
spellcheck (boolean): Enable automatic spellcheck
text_decorations (boolean): Include highlighting in result snippets
extra_snippets (boolean): Get up to 5 additional alternative excerpts per result
units (string): Measurement units - metric or imperial

search_with_summary

Simplified search interface specifically designed for retrieving search results with AI-generated summaries. This tool automatically enables summary generation and returns a summarizer key for creating comprehensive AI summaries of the search results.

Parameters:

q (required, string): Search query, up to 400 characters
count (integer): Number of results to return, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code
safesearch (string): Safe search level - off, moderate, or strict
search_lang (string): Search language code

search_news

Search specifically for news articles with metadata including publication dates, sources, and thumbnails. Ideal for finding current events, recent developments, or time-sensitive information.

Parameters:

q (required, string): News search query, up to 400 characters
count (integer): Number of news results, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code for regional news
freshness (string): Time filter - pd, pw, pm, or py
search_lang (string): Language code for news articles

search_videos

Find videos across the web with detailed metadata including duration, view counts, creator information, and thumbnail images. Perfect for multimedia content discovery.

Parameters:

q (required, string): Video search query, up to 400 characters
count (integer): Number of video results, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code
search_lang (string): Search language code

search_discussions

Discover forum posts and discussion threads from various platforms across the web. Excellent for finding community opinions, troubleshooting advice, and user experiences.

Parameters:

q (required, string): Discussion search query, up to 400 characters
count (integer): Number of discussion results, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code
search_lang (string): Search language code

search_locations

Find points of interest (POIs) and locations with comprehensive details including addresses, geographic coordinates, ratings, reviews, and opening hours. Essential for location-based queries.

Parameters:

q (required, string): Location search query, up to 400 characters
count (integer): Number of location results, 1-20
offset (integer): Pagination offset, 0-9
country (string): Two-character country code
search_lang (string): Search language code
units (string): Measurement units - metric or imperial

local_poi_search

Retrieve detailed information about specific locations using their temporary IDs. This tool allows you to query up to 20 locations simultaneously, providing in-depth POI data. Note that location IDs are valid for 8 hours after being retrieved from a location search.

Parameters:

ids (required, array): List of 1-20 location IDs obtained from search_locations
units (string): Measurement units - metric or imperial
ui_lang (string): User interface language
search_lang (string): Search language code

local_descriptions_search

Get AI-generated descriptions for specific locations using their temporary IDs. Can process up to 20 locations at once. Location IDs remain valid for 8 hours after initial retrieval.

Parameters:

ids (required, array): List of 1-20 location IDs
ui_lang (string): User interface language for descriptions
search_lang (string): Search language code

Resource Templates

search_result

Access complete search results for any query using default parameters. This resource provides a straightforward way to retrieve comprehensive search data.

URI Pattern: brave://search/{query}

Parameters:

query: The search term or phrase

search_result_filtered

Retrieve filtered search results focusing on specific content types. Choose from web pages, news articles, videos, discussions, locations, FAQs, or infoboxes.

URI Pattern: brave://search/{query}/filter/{filter_type}

Parameters:

query: The search term or phrase
filter_type: Content type - web, news, videos, discussions, locations, faq, or infobox

search_result_paginated

Access specific pages of search results with automatic pagination handling. Each page contains up to 20 results, with a maximum of 10 pages available.

URI Pattern: brave://search/{query}/page/{page_number}

Parameters:

query: The search term or phrase
page_number: Page number (1-10)

location_details

Retrieve detailed POI information for a specific location. Remember that location IDs expire after 8 hours, so you'll need fresh IDs from recent location searches.

URI Pattern: brave://location/{location_id}

Parameters:

location_id: Temporary location identifier (valid for 8 hours)

location_description

Access AI-generated descriptions for specific locations, providing context and information beyond basic POI data. Location IDs must be fresh (within 8 hours).

URI Pattern: brave://location/{location_id}/description

Parameters:

location_id: Temporary location identifier (valid for 8 hours)

search_result_with_context

Retrieve localized search results with specific geographic and linguistic context. This resource automatically applies country and language settings to your search.

URI Pattern: brave://search/{query}/context/{country}/{language}

Parameters:

query: The search term or phrase
country: Two-character country code
language: Language code

Use Cases

Research and Information Gathering: Leverage the web_search tool with custom filtering to gather comprehensive information on any topic, with support for freshness filters to ensure you get the most recent data.

News Monitoring: Use search_news with freshness parameters to track breaking news, monitor specific topics over time, or aggregate news from multiple sources.

Content Discovery: Find relevant videos, discussions, and multimedia content using specialized search tools that return rich metadata for better content curation.

Location-Based Services: Build applications that need geographic data by searching for locations, then retrieving detailed POI information including coordinates, ratings, and business hours.

AI-Assisted Research: Enable search_with_summary to provide your AI with both search results and automatically generated summaries, making it easier to process and synthesize information.

Multilingual Applications: Take advantage of language and country parameters to build applications that serve international audiences with localized search results.

Privacy Considerations

Built on Brave Search's privacy-first infrastructure, this MCP server provides powerful search capabilities without compromising user privacy. Brave Search doesn't track users or build search profiles, making it an excellent choice for privacy-conscious applications and services.