Brave Search MCP

Brave Search MCP Server is Brave's own Model Context Protocol server for the Brave Search API. It is maintained by Brave Software in the brave/brave-search-mcp-server repository and published on npm as @brave/brave-search-mcp-server. It gives Claude and other MCP clients tools for web, news, image, video, local and place search, plus an LLM context tool for grounding and an AI summarizer. You run it yourself (stdio by default, or HTTP) and supply your own Brave Search API key, which Brave bills per request.

Which Brave Search MCP is this? This page covers Brave's maintained server. The older reference server, @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search, now lives in the archived modelcontextprotocol/servers-archived repository and is no longer maintained. Its last npm release was 0.6.2 (December 4, 2024) and npm marks the package "no longer supported". It had only two tools, brave_web_search and brave_local_search. If your config still runs that package, switch to @brave/brave-search-mcp-server. Brave's LICENSE file carries both a 2024 Anthropic, PBC and a 2025 Brave Software, Inc copyright line.

Quick facts (as of October 8, 2026)

Tools

These are the tools listed in the README:

Queries are capped at 400 characters and 50 words. Web search returns 1 to 20 results per page, with a pagination offset of up to 9.

What changed in 2.x

The README's migration notes list two breaking changes from 1.x. The default transport is now stdio (set BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT=http or --transport http to keep HTTP). And brave_image_search no longer returns base64 image data, which Brave says slowed responses and used up context; it now returns a response closer to the raw API.

Setup

1. Sign up for a Brave Search API account at brave.com/search/api and pick a plan (Search or Answers).
2. Create an API key in the developer dashboard.
3. Add the server to your client.

For VS Code, the README gives this .vscode/mcp.json entry, which prompts for the key as a password input:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "password": true,
      "id": "brave-api-key",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Brave Search API Key"
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "brave-search-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server", "--transport", "stdio"],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "${input:brave-api-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop, the README shows a Docker entry in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-search": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BRAVE_API_KEY", "docker.io/mcp/brave-search"],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

The README also covers an npx entry for Claude Desktop, one-click install buttons for VS Code, and a config for the fx client. Building from source needs Node.js 22 or later.

Configuration options

Each setting has a matching command line flag.

Authentication and safety

The only credential is your Brave Search API key. The tools are search only, so the main risks are cost and exposure, not changes to your data:

• Cost. Every tool call is a billed API request. Use BRAVE_MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS to expose only the tools you need.
• The HTTP endpoint has no authentication. It binds to 127.0.0.1 by default. The README says setting BRAVE_MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 (needed in containers and on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore) should only be done on a trusted network.
• DNS rebinding. Browser requests with a non-loopback Origin are rejected with HTTP 403 unless you allow them. Host header checks are opt-in.
• Untrusted content. Search results and extracted page text come from the open web, so treat them as data, not instructions.

Brave Search API pricing (as of October 2026)

From Brave's API page, read October 8, 2026:

Brave's FAQ says a credit card is required even for free use, to deter abuse, and is not charged on free plans. Storing results, for example to train or tune a model, needs a plan that grants storage rights. The pricing page in Brave's API docs lists the same Search and Answers prices and the same $5 monthly credits.

Limitations and things to watch

• You need an API key and a card on file. There is no keyless mode.
• README plan names lag the pricing page. The README marks extra_snippets and full local search as "Pro plans only", but the API page now lists Search, Answers and Enterprise. Check your plan in the dashboard.
• The Claude Desktop npx example passes --transport http. For a client that launches the server over stdio, the VS Code and fx examples use --transport stdio, which matches the 2.x default.
• No hosted endpoint is documented. You run the server yourself.
• 2.x broke image search output compared with 1.x.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Maintained by Brave, unlike the archived reference server.
• Eight tools covering web, news, images, video, local, places, LLM context and summaries.
• Tool allow and block lists, key files for secrets, and loopback-only HTTP by default.
• MIT licensed, with npm and Docker installs.

Cons

• Every call costs money once the $5 monthly credit is used.
• No hosted endpoint or OAuth is documented in the README.
• Some README notes about plans look out of date.

Who it is for

A good fit if:

• You want an agent to search the live web from Brave's own index, with news, image and video search in one server.
• You need grounding text for RAG through brave_llm_context.
• You still run @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search and want a maintained replacement.

Not the right tool if:

• You want a hosted server with no key to manage.
• You want results tuned for agent research rather than raw search results. Compare Tavily MCP, Exa MCP or Perplexity MCP.
• You only need to fetch a page you already know the URL of.

What we could not verify

• Which plans the README's "Pro plans only" notes now map to.
• Whether the Claude Desktop npx example with --transport http works as written.
• Any rate limit beyond the per-plan queries per second on Brave's API page.

How this page was put together

We read the brave/brave-search-mcp-server README and LICENSE, the npm registry entries for @brave/brave-search-mcp-server and the old @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search, the archived reference server README, and Brave's Search API page on October 8, 2026. We did not run the server.

Sources

• GitHub: brave/brave-search-mcp-server
• README (raw)
• LICENSE (raw)
• npm: @brave/brave-search-mcp-server
• npm: @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search (unsupported)
• GitHub: archived reference Brave Search server
• Brave Search API
• Brave Search API docs: pricing