canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/brave.com/brave

# Brave Search API

The Brave Search API returns independent search results across the web, news, images, and video. It queries the web index, retrieves news, image, and video results, and returns points of interest and their descriptions for local search. It also serves autocomplete suggestions for a partial query and spell-check corrections for a typed one. Each result set is drawn from Brave's own index rather than a syndicated one. Requests authenticate with a subscription token sent in a request header.

## For AI agents

Query Brave's independent search index for web, news, image, and video results, look up local points of interest, and fetch autocomplete suggestions and spell-check corrections.

## Scope

Does not handle result hosting, ad placement, or account billing. Use for Brave web, news, image, video, local, and suggestion search only.

## Capabilities

- Query the web index for search results
- Retrieve news, image, and video results for a query
- Look up local points of interest and their descriptions
- Serve autocomplete suggestions for a partial query
- Return spell-check corrections for a typed query

## Use cases

### AI agent web search grounding

A research agent needs fresh, independent web results to ground its answers instead of relying on stale training data. Through Jentic the agent sends the user's query to Brave's web search, reads the ranked results, and can follow up with news or video results for the same topic. Because the results come from Brave's own index, the agent gets a source it can cite rather than a black-box summary.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'search the web', call GET `/web/search` with the user's query, then optionally GET `/news/search` for recent coverage of the same topic.

### News monitoring

A monitoring workflow needs recent coverage of a topic on a schedule. The news search operation returns current articles for a query, so an agent can poll for a brand or keyword and surface new results. This lets a briefing assistant assemble a digest without a person searching by hand.

Example prompt: Call GET `/news/search` with the tracked keyword on a schedule and diff the results against the last run to surface new coverage.

### Local place lookup

A location-aware assistant needs details about nearby places for a query. The points-of-interest and descriptions operations return local results and their summaries, so an agent can answer 'coffee near the office' with real places rather than a generic web page. This grounds local questions in structured place data.

Example prompt: Call GET `/local/pois` for the query and location, then GET `/local/descriptions` to fetch a summary for the returned places.

### Query autocomplete and correction

A search-box experience needs to suggest completions and fix typos as a user types. The suggest and spellcheck operations return autocomplete candidates and corrected spellings for a partial or misspelled query, so an agent can offer suggestions before running the full search.

Example prompt: Call GET `/suggest/search` for completions as the user types, and GET `/spellcheck/search` to correct a misspelled query before searching.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/web/search` | Search the web index |
| GET | `/news/search` | Retrieve news results |
| GET | `/images/search` | Retrieve image results |
| GET | `/videos/search` | Retrieve video results |
| GET | `/local/pois` | Look up local points of interest |
| GET | `/local/descriptions` | Fetch descriptions for local places |
| GET | `/suggest/search` | Get autocomplete suggestions |
| GET | `/spellcheck/search` | Get spell-check corrections |

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Brave Search API by hand means provisioning a subscription token, attaching it to the right header, and building each search call yourself. Through Jentic you install once, store the token, and import it from the API Directory, and your agent calls it without you writing the client.
- **Permission scoping:** The Brave Search API exposes web, news, image, video, local, and suggestion operations, so a rule bounds which of them the agent may call: web and news search without the local or suggestion operations unless you add them. You choose the allowed set, so the agent only runs the operations you pick.
- **Credential handling:** You store the subscription token once and Jentic keeps it server-side, so it never sits in the agent's prompt or context; the agent calls the search operations and the token is attached to the request header out of band.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search the web' or 'find local points of interest', and Jentic returns the matching Brave Search operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Exa** — Exa runs a neural search API tuned for retrieving content for AI agents
- **Tavily** — Tavily is a search API built for grounding LLM answers with retrieved sources
- **Bing** — Bing provides web and vertical search results as an alternative search index

## FAQ

### Is there a Brave Search API MCP server?

You don't need an MCP server to give your agent the Brave Search API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your subscription token once, and your agent calls the web, news, image, and local operations on demand without loading another server's tool definitions into its context.

### What authentication does the Brave Search API use?

The Brave Search API authenticates with a subscription token sent in a request header on each call. When you connect it through Jentic, the token is stored server-side, so it stays out of the agent's prompt while the agent still makes the search calls.

### Can I search the web with the Brave Search API?

Yes. GET `/web/search` returns ranked results from Brave's own index for a query, and GET `/news/search`, GET `/images/search`, and GET `/videos/search` return news, image, and video results for the same query, so an agent can ground an answer in fresh, citable sources.

### What are the rate limits for the Brave Search API?

The OpenAPI spec does not state rate limits for the Brave Search API; Brave sets them by subscription plan. Cache repeat queries where you can and check your plan in the Brave Search API dashboard, since the spec does not carry the limit.

### How do I run a local place lookup through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'find local points of interest', load the matching operation, and call GET `/local/pois` with the query and location. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Brave Search API?

Yes. Because Jentic One is self-hosted, you decide which operations the agent may call: you might allow web and news search with GET `/web/search` and GET `/news/search` while withholding the local operations, and every call the agent makes is logged.