Brave Search
Web and local search through the Brave Search API, giving an agent current results instead of stale training data.
What it does
Runs web, news, image, and local searches through the Brave Search API and returns structured results.
Now maintained by Brave directly. The older community version under the modelcontextprotocol organisation is archived, so ignore instructions referencing @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search.
Setup
Get an API key from the Brave Search API dashboard. There is a free tier with a monthly query allowance.
claude mcp add brave-search -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server
Set the key in BRAVE_API_KEY.
What to watch out for
Search results are untrusted text from the open web, and a result snippet can contain instructions aimed at your agent. This is one of the more realistic prompt injection paths in a normal setup.
Many harnesses now ship their own web search, so check whether you already have it before adding a key and a quota to manage.
The free tier limit is easy to hit if an agent searches in a loop. Watch usage in the first week.
