Brave Search

Web search API with AI-ready snippets, no tracking

Brave Search API is the only search API built on an independent web index (not proxying Google or Bing). It provides web search results with URLs, snippets, news, images, and schema-enriched metadata — all optimized for AI consumption. Features include custom reranking via Goggles, extra alternate snippets, and zero data retention. Brave also offers an Answers endpoint for summarized, grounded responses. For OpenClaw agents, Brave Search is a first-class integration — it's the default web search tool in OpenClaw. The API returns AI-ready snippets designed for RAG pipelines and agent workflows. With $5 in free monthly credits and strong privacy guarantees, it's the recommended search API for most agent use cases.

Tags: search, data

Category: Search

Use Cases

  • Power OpenClaw's built-in web search for real-time information retrieval
  • Build RAG pipelines that ground LLM responses with fresh web data
  • Research competitors, verify facts, and gather intelligence via agent commands

Tips

  • Configure as OpenClaw's web_search provider for seamless integration
  • Use the 'freshness' parameter to filter results by recency (day, week, month)
  • Goggles can dramatically improve result quality for specialized research domains

Known Issues & Gotchas

  • Free credits are $5/month — roughly 2,000 queries. Heavy research agents may exceed this.
  • The index is independent, so results may differ from Google for some queries
  • Answers endpoint costs extra ($4/1K) on top of search credits

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Brave Search recommended over Google Custom Search?

Brave has its own independent index (not a Google reseller), better AI-optimized snippets, simpler pricing, and privacy-first architecture. Google Custom Search is limited to 100 free queries/day and returns less agent-friendly data.

What are Goggles?

Goggles are custom reranking rules that let you boost, demote, or filter results from specific domains. You can create a Goggle that prioritizes tech blogs over news sites, for example.

Does it work well as an MCP tool?

Yes. Brave Search is the leading search tool for Claude MCP and similar agent frameworks. Its snippets are specifically optimized for AI consumption with extra context and metadata.