Web Search (Brave Search API)

Search the web using Brave's Search API. Returns web results with descriptions, optional extra snippets, and support for country/language targeting.

Note: This skill requires a Brave Search API key. For basic web search using the agent's built-in capability, see web-search . For AI-optimized results with relevance scores, see web-search-tavily .

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You need to find current information not in your training data

• The user asks about recent events, news, or updates

• You need localized search results for a specific country or language

• You want a privacy-respecting search alternative

• Research requires real-time web data

• Keywords mentioned: search, look up, find online, current, latest, news

Do NOT use this skill when:

• Information is already in your knowledge base and doesn't need verification

• The user asks about historical facts that don't change

• You're working with local files or code (use other tools)

• A more specific skill exists for the task (e.g., documentation lookup)

• You need AI-generated answer summaries (use web-search-tavily instead)

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, ensure:

• BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable is set with a valid API key

• Deno is installed (for running the search script)

• Internet access is available

Get a Brave Search API key at: https://brave.com/search/api/

Quick Start

Run a simple search:

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "your search query"

Example with freshness filter:

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "React 19 new features" --freshness pw

Script Usage

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts [options] "query"

Options

Option Description Default

--results <n>

Number of results to return (max 20) 5

--freshness <range>

Time filter: pd , pw , pm , or py

none

--country <code>

Country code for localized results (e.g., US, GB, DE) none

--lang <code>

Search language (e.g., en, fr, de) none

--safesearch <level>

Safe search: off , moderate , or strict

moderate

--extra-snippets

Include additional content snippets false

--offset <n>

Pagination offset 0

--json

Output as JSON (for programmatic use) false

--help

Show help message

Search Parameters

Freshness Values

Filter results by recency:

• pd: Past day (last 24 hours)

• pw: Past week (last 7 days)

• pm: Past month (last 30 days)

• py: Past year (last 365 days)

Country Codes

Use standard 2-character country codes to get localized results:

• US (United States), GB (United Kingdom), DE (Germany), FR (France), JP (Japan), etc.

Safe Search Levels

• off: No filtering

• moderate (default): Filters explicit content

• strict: Strictest filtering

Output Format

Human-Readable Output (default)

Search: "React 19 new features"

Found 5 results in 189ms

1. React 19 Release Notes https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19 React 19 is now available on npm! This release includes... Age: 2 months ago

2. What's New in React 19 https://example.com/react-19-features A comprehensive overview of React 19's new features...

JSON Output (--json)

{ "query": "React 19 new features", "results": [ { "title": "React 19 Release Notes", "url": "https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19", "description": "React 19 is now available on npm...", "age": "2 months ago", "language": "en", "family_friendly": true } ], "response_time": 189, "total_results": 1250000 }

Result Fields

Field Type Description

title

string Page title

url

string Source URL

description

string Relevant excerpt from the page

extra_snippets

string[] Additional content snippets (only with --extra-snippets)

age

string How old the result is (e.g., "2 hours ago")

language

string Language of the result

family_friendly

boolean Whether the result is family-friendly

Examples

Example 1: Current Events Search

Scenario: Find recent news about a technology topic

scripts/search.ts "OpenAI GPT-5 announcement" --freshness pw --results 10

Expected output: Recent web results about GPT-5 from the past week

Example 2: Documentation Lookup

Scenario: Find specific technical documentation

scripts/search.ts "Deno deploy edge functions tutorial" --results 10 --extra-snippets

Expected output: Comprehensive results with extra snippets from documentation and tutorial sites

Example 3: Localized Search

Scenario: Find results targeted to a specific country and language

scripts/search.ts "aktuelle Nachrichten" --country DE --lang de --freshness pd

Expected output: German-language results from Germany from the past day

Example 4: Filtered Search with JSON Output

Scenario: Get structured results with strict safe search

scripts/search.ts "machine learning tutorials" --safesearch strict --extra-snippets --json

Expected output: JSON results with extra snippets, filtered for safe content

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: "BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable is not set"

Symptoms: Script exits immediately with API key error

Solution:

• Get an API key from https://brave.com/search/api/

• Set the environment variable: export BRAVE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

• Or run with the variable inline: BRAVE_API_KEY="your-key" deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "query"

Issue: "Invalid Brave Search API key"

Symptoms: 401 authentication error

Solution:

• Verify your API key is correct (no extra spaces)

• Check if your API key has expired

• Verify your Brave Search API subscription is active

Issue: "Brave Search API rate limit exceeded"

Symptoms: 429 error response

Solution:

• Wait a moment and retry

• Reduce request frequency

• Consider upgrading your Brave Search API plan for higher limits

Issue: No results returned

Symptoms: Empty results array

Solution:

• Try broader search terms

• Remove country or language filters that might be too restrictive

• Remove or widen the freshness filter

• Check if the topic exists online

Limitations

This skill has the following limitations:

• Requires active internet connection

• API rate limits apply based on your Brave Search API plan

• Results depend on Brave's index coverage

• Cannot access paywalled or login-required content

• No built-in AI-generated answer summaries (use web-search-tavily for that)

• Maximum 20 results per request

• Extra snippets require a paid API plan

Related Skills

• web-search: Basic web search using the agent's built-in capability

• web-search-tavily: AI-optimized search with relevance scores and answer summaries

• research-workflow: For comprehensive research projects that use multiple searches with planning and synthesis