Brave Search MCP
github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server- Category
- Developer Tools
- Rank
- No. 429Tools index
- Pricing
- Freemium
- Type
- TOOL
- Builder
- brave
- GitHub
- 1.4k stars
- Latest release
- v2.1.0
- Added
- Jul 4, 2026
About
The official Brave Search MCP server gives an agent web, news, image, video, and local search backed by Brave's independent search index through the Model Context Protocol.
What it does
It turns agent requests into structured Brave API queries, with separate tools for general results, places, media, news, summaries, and pre-extracted context. Operators choose standard input/output or an HTTP endpoint.
Why it's ranked here
The breadth is practical, but the operational controls make the stronger case. It validates configuration, supports selective tool exposure, handles mounted secrets, and guards browser-facing HTTP requests. Paid-plan dependencies and an unauthenticated HTTP endpoint temper that strength.
What's good
Search modes expose useful controls instead of flattening everything into one query box. Agents can set freshness, language, country, safety filters, pagination, reranking, and context budgets. Image responses omit bulky base64 data, preserving session context. Tests cover configuration and MCP tool registration.
Tradeoffs
Every deployment needs a Brave API key, and full local search plus some extra excerpts require Pro plans. Summarization needs a two-step search-key workflow. HTTP binds to loopback by default, but exposing it creates an unauthenticated endpoint. The present request path does not invoke the repository's client-side rate limiter.
How to use it well
Use it when an agent needs several kinds of search through one MCP connection, especially research, grounding, local discovery, or media lookup. Prefer standard input/output for local clients. Enable only required tools. It does not provide page interaction; its scope is querying Brave Search API endpoints.
Technical notes+
package.json defines an ESM npm package with the brave-search-mcp-server binary, TypeScript compilation, and Node's test runner. src/index.ts selects STDIO by default or HTTP explicitly. src/config.ts validates credentials, transport, ports, logging, tool allowlists or denylists, stateless mode, origins, and hosts; API-key files override direct keys. src/server.ts registers permitted tools with McpServer. src/BraveAPI/index.ts maps tool categories to Brave API endpoints, builds query parameters, accepts only HTTPS Goggle URLs, attaches the subscription token, and surfaces non-success bodies. src/protocols/http.ts serves /mcp and /ping, supports stateful or stateless transports, and installs a DNS-rebinding guard. src/utils.ts defines rate-limit checking, but src/BraveAPI/index.ts leaves its invocation commented out. Colocated tests in src/utils.test.ts, src/config.test.ts, and src/server.test.ts cover utility validation, configuration behavior, and MCP registration wiring.
Observed
- License
- MIT
- Primary language
- TypeScript
- Packaging
- ES module npm package shipping compiled dist output
- Install surface
- Provides the brave-search-mcp-server command-line binary
- Interfaces
- MCP over STDIO by default, with optional Streamable HTTP transport
- Authentication
- Requires a Brave API key supplied directly or through a key file
- Test structure
- Node test files are colocated under src and include MCP wiring tests
Read from README.md, package.json, src/index.ts, src/server.ts, src/utils.ts, src/config.ts, src/helpers.ts, src/constants.ts, src/utils.test.ts, src/config.test.ts, src/server.test.ts, src/tools/index.ts, src/BraveAPI/index.ts, src/BraveAPI/types.ts, src/protocols/http.ts.
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Indexed by a proprietary survey. Corrections welcome.