Brave Search MCP Server
Brave Search MCP Server is an MCP server that adds search and knowledge tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Brave Search MCP Server: web results, images, videos, rich results, AI summaries, and more. It has 1,533 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server.
github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server (opens in a new tab)
Data as of from the GitHub API and the official MCP registry; description from the project's repository. Report an error
- Official
- Needs API key
- AI & search
- MIT
- Active
Install Brave Search MCP Server
Generated from the server's MCP registry entry. Replace your-value with your own values.
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.
Claude Code
claude mcp add --env BRAVE_API_KEY=your-value --transport stdio brave-search-mcp-server -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-serverCursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search-mcp-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.
VS Code
{
"inputs": [
{
"type": "promptString",
"id": "brave_api_key",
"description": "BRAVE_API_KEY",
"password": true
}
],
"servers": {
"brave-search-mcp-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "${input:brave_api_key}"
}
}
}
}Config formats checked against the official docs on Oct 7, 2026: modelcontextprotocol.io (opens in a new tab), code.claude.com (opens in a new tab), cursor.com (opens in a new tab), code.visualstudio.com (opens in a new tab).
Environment variables
Variables the server reads at startup.
| Name | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
BRAVE_API_KEYsecret | Yes | Your API key for the service |
Tools (40)
Parsed from the Tools section of the README; check the repository for the current list.
querySearch terms (max 400 chars, 50 words)
countryCountry code (default: "US")
search_langSearch language (default: "en")
ui_langUI language (default: "en-US")
countResults per page (1-20, default: 10)
offsetPagination offset (max 9, default: 0)
safesearchContent filtering ("off", "moderate", "strict", default: "moderate")
freshnessTime filter ("pd", "pw", "pm", "py", or date range)
text_decorationsInclude highlighting markers (default: true)
spellcheckEnable spell checking (default: true)
result_filterFilter result types (default: ["web", "query"])
gogglesCustom re-ranking definitions
unitsMeasurement units ("metric" or "imperial")
extra_snippetsGet additional excerpts (Pro plans only)
summaryEnable summary key generation for AI summarization
entity_infoInclude entity information (default: false)
inline_referencesAdd source URL references (default: false)
latitudeLatitude of the search center (-90 to 90). Typically paired with longitude.
longitudeLongitude of the search center (-180 to 180). Typically paired with latitude.
locationLocation string used as an alternative to latitude/longitude. For US locations prefer the form (e.g., san francisco ca…
radiusSearch radius around the supplied coordinates, in meters. If omitted, the search is performed globally.
geolocOptional geolocation token used to refine results.
api-versionBrave API version (YYYY-MM-DD)
acceptResponse media type (application/json or /)
cache-controlUse no-cache to request fresh content
user-agentUser agent originating the request
maximum_number_of_urlsMaximum number of URLs to include (1-50)
maximum_number_of_tokensApproximate maximum number of context tokens (1024-32768)
maximum_number_of_snippetsMaximum number of snippets to include (1-256)
context_threshold_modeThreshold mode ("disabled", "strict", "lenient", "balanced")
maximum_number_of_tokens_per_urlMaximum tokens per URL (512-8192)
maximum_number_of_snippets_per_urlMaximum snippets per URL (1-100)
enable_localEnable local recall
enable_source_metadataInclude source metadata enrichment
x-loc-latClient latitude (-90 to 90)
x-loc-longClient longitude (-180 to 180)
x-loc-cityClient city name
x-loc-stateClient state or region code
x-loc-state-nameClient state or region name
x-loc-countryClient country code
About Brave Search MCP Server
An MCP server implementation that integrates the Brave Search API, providing comprehensive search capabilities including web search, local business search, place search, image search, video search, news search, LLM context, and AI-powered summarization. This project supports both STDIO and HTTP transports, with STDIO as the default mode.
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How do I install the Brave Search MCP Server MCP server?
Add the command npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server to your MCP client: put it in claude_desktop_config.json for Claude Desktop, run claude mcp add for Claude Code, or add it to .cursor/mcp.json (Cursor) or .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code). The snippets on this page are ready to paste.
Is Brave Search MCP Server free?
The server is open source under the MIT license, so running it is free. It needs credentials (BRAVE_API_KEY) for the service it connects to, which may require a paid account.
Is Brave Search MCP Server actively maintained?
The most recent commit was on Oct 21, 2026. The latest release is v2.1.4, published Sep 17, 2026. appsgit only lists MCP servers with a commit in the last six months.