MCP Server
Brave Search MCP Server
Official Brave MCP server providing comprehensive search capabilities including web, local, image, video, news search, and AI-powered summarization through the Brave Search API
What is Brave Search MCP Server?
The Brave Search MCP Server is an official implementation maintained by Brave Software that integrates the full Brave Search API into the Model Context Protocol ecosystem. The server exposes tools for web search (brave_web_search), local business search (brave_local_search), place details (brave_place_search), image search (brave_image_search), video search (brave_video_search), news search (brave_news_search), and AI summarization (brave_summarizer_search). Version 2.x defaulted to STDIO transport following MCP conventions, with HTTP transport available via BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT environment variable or --transport http runtime argument. The server requires a Brave Search API key (BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable) available from brave.com/search/api. Search tools support extensive filtering including country codes, language preferences, freshness filters (past day/week/month/year), safesearch levels, result type filtering, and custom Goggles for re-ranking. Image search responses were optimized in v2.x to remove base64-encoded data and return URL-based results matching the original Brave API structure.
Key capabilities
Comprehensive Search Tool Suite Across Content Types
Exposes seven distinct search tools: brave_web_search for general queries, brave_local_search for businesses, brave_place_search for location details, brave_image_search, brave_video_search, brave_news_search, and brave_summarizer_search for AI-generated summaries.
Advanced Filtering with Freshness, Safesearch, and Goggles
Web search supports freshness filters (pd/pw/pm/py or date ranges), safesearch levels (off/moderate/strict), result_filter arrays to control result types, and custom Goggles definitions for domain-specific re-ranking.
Dual Transport Support with STDIO Default and HTTP Option
Version 2.x defaults to STDIO transport following MCP conventions, with HTTP transport accessible via BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT environment variable or --transport http runtime flag for backward compatibility or specific deployment requirements.
API Key Authentication via Environment Variables
Requires BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable containing a valid API key from brave.com/search/api, configured in MCP client settings under the env field of the server configuration object.
Use cases
Real-Time Information Retrieval for AI Assistants
AI coding tools and chatbots can use brave_web_search to retrieve current information, news, or documentation that wasn't in their training data, enabling up-to-date answers about recent events, library releases, or API changes.
Local Business Discovery and Contact Information
AI assistants helping with local recommendations can use brave_local_search and brave_place_search to find businesses, retrieve hours of operation, ratings, and contact details with AI-generated descriptions for better user experience.
Content Research with Image and Video Search
AI tools building presentations, documentation, or content can search for relevant images via brave_image_search and videos via brave_video_search, retrieving URLs, metadata, and thumbnails without downloading full media.
AI-Powered Summarization for Query Results
AI assistants can use brave_summarizer_search to generate concise summaries of search results using Brave's AI summarization, providing users with key points from multiple sources without manual aggregation.
MCP capabilities
Tools
brave_web_search
brave_local_search
brave_image_search
brave_news_search
Connection and auth
- Brave Search API key from brave.com/search/api
- BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable configured in MCP client settings
- For HTTP transport: BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT=http or --transport http argument
Client configuration
Claude Desktop
{
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
}