Brave Search MCP Server
Search the web, news, images, videos and places with Brave's independent index.
Officialby BraveRuns on your computerChecked October 18, 2026
Brave's official server connects Claude to the Brave Search API, whose results come from Brave's own independent web index. It covers web, news, image, video and local place searches, and can also return AI summaries and pre-extracted page text for grounding answers.
Who it is for
- Privacy-minded users
- Developers who want an independent search index
- Researchers who need news and image search
Prompts to try
Once it is connected, ask in plain words. Claude decides when to use the server and asks before it changes anything important.
Search Brave for news about the Mars sample return mission from the past week.Find coffee shops near Union Square in San Francisco with their opening hours.Search for images of mid-century modern living rooms and list the source pages.How to connect it
In Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport stdio brave-search --env BRAVE_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server
In the Claude desktop app
Add this to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart the app:
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@brave/brave-search-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
}
}
}Good to know
Brave Search API plans include monthly free credits; full local business search needs a Pro plan and otherwise falls back to web search.
Unlock the setup steps
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How we checked it
Checked the GitHub repo (MIT, release v2.1.4 on 2026-09-17, last commit 2026-10-05), the @brave/brave-search-mcp-server npm package, the registry entry and Brave's Search API page; Brave documents no hosted endpoint.