brave-search

This Brave Search MCP Server exposes multiple search tools that wrap Brave's Search API, including web search, image search, video search, news search, local search (pro feature), and AI-powered summarization. By default, the server uses STDIO transport, but you can switch to HTTP by setting BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT to 'http' or by passing --transport http when launching. To use the server, ensure you have a Brave API key and configure the appropriate environment variables. Tools supported include brave_web_search, brave_image_search, brave_video_search, brave_news_search, brave_local_search (Pro), and brave_summarizer (AI summarization leveraging Brave's API). Use the web search tool to perform queries with advanced filters; if you have Pro access, you can enable local search for places, and then generate AI-assisted summaries with the summarizer tool by providing a summary key from a prior web search.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (LTS) and npm installed on your system
• Brave API key (for BRAVE_API_KEY)

1. Install dependencies and obtain the server:

• Option A: Use Smithery to install Brave Search MCP Server npx -y @smithery/cli install brave

• Option B: Clone or download the repository and install locally (if you have the source): git clone https://github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server.git cd brave-search-mcp-server npm install

2. Configure environment variables (example):

• BRAVE_API_KEY=your-brave-api-key
• BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio (default) or http
• BRAVE_MCP_PORT=8000
• BRAVE_MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0
• BRAVE_MCP_LOG_LEVEL=info

3. Run the server:

• Typical run (STDIO by default): BRAVE_API_KEY=your-key node dist/index.js

• Run with HTTP transport: BRAVE_API_KEY=your-key BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT=http BRAVE_MCP_PORT=8000 node dist/index.js

4. Optional: use the Smithery CLI approach to install and run as described in the repository documentation.

Notes and tips:

• You must provide BRAVE_API_KEY to access Brave's API; without it, requests will fail.
• The server supports both STDIO and HTTP transports. STDIO is the default and is suitable for embedding in other tools; HTTP exposes a REST-like interface on the configured host/port.
• Some features (e.g., brave_local_search) require a Pro Brave plan.
• You can control tool availability using BRAVE_MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS or BRAVE_MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS to whitelist or blacklist specific tools.
• Environment variable BRAVE_MCP_STATELESS determines whether the HTTP interface is stateless; when deployed on certain environments, you may want to adjust this value.
• If upgrading from an older 1.x version, consult the migration notes in the README for transport defaults and schema changes (e.g., image search output changes).