MCP Servers · Search and Research

brave/brave-search-mcp-server

Web search capabilities using Brave's Search API

Our verdict

Not reviewed yet

We have not reviewed brave/brave-search-mcp-server yet

No one at Enterprise DNA has checked this listing against its sources. The description comes from public listings gathered automatically. Any fact below shows where it came from and when it was last checked.

How we review records

From the listing

About brave/brave-search-mcp-server

This MCP server acts as a bridge between AI assistants and Brave Search's API. It allows agents to perform web searches programmatically through the Model Context Protocol, returning structured results directly to the assistant.

Best for

Developers building AI agents that need on-demand web search capabilities

Use cases

Enable an AI assistant to look up current events or data from the web
Retrieve real-time information for fact-checking in agent conversations
Provide search results as context for decision-making or content generation

Notes

1,126 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2026-06-01. Licensed MIT.

Pros

Simple integration with any MCP-compatible client like Claude Desktop
Direct access to Brave Search without needing a separate HTTP client
Leverages Brave's privacy-oriented search index with decent coverage

Cons

Requires a Brave Search API key, which may have usage limits or costs
Search results are limited to Brave's index, which may differ from Google or Bing
Dependent on the MCP ecosystem, which is still maturing and may change

Key facts

What we have checked

Days since the last commit: 0; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub
GitHub forks: 218; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub
GitHub stars: 1,535; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub
Days to a first reply on issues: 141; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub
Open issues: 24; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub
Releases in the last 90 days: 4; Checked 26 Oct 2026GitHub

Each value shows when we last confirmed it and where it came from. Values we have not confirmed are left out, never guessed.

How to use

How to set it up

As the listing publishes it. We have not run this install.

Install

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

Clients the listing names (not checked here)

Claude Desktop, Continue, VS Code

Install

Add brave/brave-search-mcp-server to your client

Not verified yet

Our lab has not run this server yet. "Config checked" on a client means the recipe matches that client's documented config format; it does not mean we ran it.

Claude Code

Config checked

Run in your terminal (runs on your computer)

claude mcp add --env BRAVE_API_KEY=YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY --transport stdio brave-brave-search-mcp-server -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server@2.1.3

Needs BRAVE_API_KEY: replace each YOUR_ value with your own.

Version 2.1.3 · From the Official MCP registry, read 24 Oct 2026 · Format checked against Claude Code's config docs

Claude Desktop

Config checked

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (runs on your computer)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-brave-search-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server@2.1.3"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Needs BRAVE_API_KEY: replace each YOUR_ value with your own.

Version 2.1.3 · From the Official MCP registry, read 24 Oct 2026 · Format checked against Claude Desktop's config docs

Cursor

Config checked

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (runs on your computer)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-brave-search-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server@2.1.3"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Needs BRAVE_API_KEY: replace each YOUR_ value with your own.

Version 2.1.3 · From the Official MCP registry, read 24 Oct 2026 · Format checked against Cursor's config docs

VS Code

Config checked

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (runs on your computer)

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "brave-api-key",
      "description": "Your API key for the service",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "brave-brave-search-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server@2.1.3"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "${input:brave-api-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Needs BRAVE_API_KEY: replace each YOUR_ value with your own.

Version 2.1.3 · From the Official MCP registry, read 24 Oct 2026 · Format checked against VS Code's config docs

Codex

Config checked

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml (runs on your computer)

[mcp_servers.brave-brave-search-mcp-server]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server@2.1.3"]
env_vars = ["BRAVE_API_KEY"]

Needs BRAVE_API_KEY: replace each YOUR_ value with your own.

Version 2.1.3 · From the Official MCP registry, read 24 Oct 2026 · Format checked against Codex's config docs

ChatGPT: ChatGPT connects only to remote servers that need no API key.

Recipes come from the server's entry in the official MCP registry. Check the package name before you run it, and keep keys out of shared files.

Works with

What brave/brave-search-mcp-server connects to

5 clients, each with how we know and when we checked.

Works with	Type	How we know	Checked
Claude Code	Client	Install recipe matches the client's documented formatRuns locally, version 2.1.3Config checked	24 Oct 2026Claude Code docs
Claude Desktop	Client	Install recipe matches the client's documented formatRuns locally, version 2.1.3Config checked	24 Oct 2026Claude Desktop docs
Cursor	Client	Install recipe matches the client's documented formatRuns locally, version 2.1.3Config checked	24 Oct 2026Cursor docs
VS Code	Client	Install recipe matches the client's documented formatRuns locally, version 2.1.3Config checked	24 Oct 2026VS Code docs
Codex	Client	Install recipe matches the client's documented formatRuns locally, version 2.1.3Config checked	24 Oct 2026Codex docs

Health and security

Is brave/brave-search-mcp-server looked after, and what do its setup files show

Health score

60 out of 100

Does someone look after this repository? It does not say the code is good or safe. Worked out from GitHub signals checked 26 Oct 2026. How it is worked out

Part	Points	What we saw
Recent activity	30 of 30	Last push 0 days ago
Releases	15 of 15	4 releases in 90 days
Issue replies	0 of 20	First reply in 141 days (median)
Maintainer	15 of 15	Owned by an organisation
Official source	0 of 20	Community server

Security check static checks

97 out of 100

Reads what is published about the server: package advisories, licence, secrets in the documented setup and tool permissions. Nothing is installed or run, so this is not a security assessment. Checked 24 Oct 2026 by edna-static-v1. What it checks

Licence: MIT

Low The documented install uses @modelcontextprotocol/inspector, whose published metadata points at github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector, not this repository. Check it is the right package before installing.
Note No published npm or PyPI package of this repository was found, so package advisories were not checked.
Note The lab has not recorded this server's tool list yet, so tool permissions were not checked.

Sources

Where this comes from

GitHubRegistry
Checked 26 Oct 2026 · Days since the last commit, GitHub forks, GitHub stars, Days to a first reply on issues, Open issues, Releases in the last 90 days

A source shows what was published when we checked it. It does not certify security, performance or a working installation. Read our method.

Changelog

What changed

No changes recorded yet. Releases, price changes and deprecations appear here, with their dates, once we track them for this record.

Pairs with

Other entries in the index that connect to this one. Click through to see the chain.

Pairs with2 entries

MMCPBrowserlowCatalogue

agent-infra/mcp-server-browser

Various

The Open-Source Multimodal AI Agent Stack: Connecting Cutting-Edge AI Models and Agent Infra

MMCPlowCatalogue

firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server

Various

🔥 Official Firecrawl MCP Server - Adds powerful web scraping and search to Cursor, Claude and any other LLM clients.

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