> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agentruntime.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Brave Search connector

> Web, news, image, video, and local search plus AI summaries via the Brave Search API.

The **brave** MCP adapter connects to the [Brave Search API](https://brave.com/search/api/). Run privacy-focused web searches, fetch news and media results, look up local businesses, and generate AI summaries from search keys — useful for research, monitoring, and grounded agent responses.

## Prerequisites

* A Brave Search API subscription and **API key** (X-Subscription-Token)
* **project\_contributor** access in AgentRuntime

## Connect in AgentRuntime

<Steps>
  <Step title="Subscribe to Brave Search API">
    Sign up at [brave.com/search/api](https://brave.com/search/api/) and copy your subscription token from the dashboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a connection">
    Go to **Connections** and click **New custom connection** to create an API key connection with `APIKey`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add brave MCP instance">
    Go to **MCP**, click **Add instance** for **brave**, wire your connection on **Instance config**, set the profile **active**, and save.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test web search">
    Run **mcp\_call** → `brave_web_search` with a simple query to confirm the token works.
  </Step>
</Steps>

See [Authentication](/integrations/authentication) for binding connections to MCP instances.

## What you can build

* **News digests** — `brave_news_search` with `freshness=pd` → LLM summarizes top stories → post to Slack or email.
* **Research with summary** — `brave_web_search` with `summary=true` → pass summary key to `brave_summarizer` for inline citations.
* **Local lead gen** — `brave_local_search` for businesses near a query → enrich with CRM connector.
* **Media monitoring** — `brave_image_search` or `brave_video_search` for brand or product mentions.
* **Filtered web search** — `result_filter`, `goggles`, and `freshness` for precise result sets.

## Tools

| Tool                 | Description                                                               |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `brave_web_search`   | General web search; set `summary=true` to obtain a key for the summarizer |
| `brave_summarizer`   | AI summary from a prior web search summary key                            |
| `brave_news_search`  | News articles (defaults to past day when freshness omitted)               |
| `brave_local_search` | Local businesses and places with POI details                              |
| `brave_image_search` | Image search results                                                      |
| `brave_video_search` | Video search results                                                      |

## Example

Fetch today's news on a topic:

```json theme={null}
{
  "id": "brave-news",
  "type": "mcp_call",
  "name": "Fetch news",
  "tool_name": "brave_news_search",
  "tool_args": {
    "query": "{{input.topic}}",
    "count": 10,
    "freshness": "pd",
    "extra_snippets": true
  },
  "timeout_s": 30
}
```

## Configuration

| Key       | Required | Description                         |
| --------- | -------- | ----------------------------------- |
| `APIKey`  | Yes      | Brave Search API subscription token |
| `APIBase` | No       | Brave Search API base URL           |

## Troubleshooting

| Issue                   | Fix                                                                                           |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `401` / invalid token   | Verify subscription is active; key goes in `APIKey` as X-Subscription-Token                   |
| Summarizer fails        | Run `brave_web_search` with `summary=true` first; pass the returned key to `brave_summarizer` |
| Empty local results     | Query may be too broad; local search depends on Brave location data availability              |
| Unexpected result types | Use `result_filter` on web search to limit to `web`, `news`, `videos`, etc.                   |

## Related

* [Integrations quickstart](/integrations/quickstart)
* [Exa connector](/connectors/exa) — semantic web search
* [Connector catalog](/integrations/connector-catalog)
* [Troubleshooting](/platform/troubleshooting)