web-search

Web Search

Requires API Key: Get one at https://api.search.brave.com Plan: Included in the Search plan. See https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/subscriptions/subscribe

Quick Start (cURL)

Basic Search

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=python+web+frameworks" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

With Parameters

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "q=rust programming tutorials" \
  --data-urlencode "country=US" \
  --data-urlencode "search_lang=en" \
  --data-urlencode "count=10" \
  --data-urlencode "safesearch=moderate" \
  --data-urlencode "freshness=pm"

Endpoint

GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search
POST https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search

Note: Both GET and POST methods are supported. POST is useful for long queries or complex Goggles.

Authentication: X-Subscription-Token: <API_KEY> header

Optional Headers:

• Accept-Encoding: gzip — Enable gzip compression

When to Use Web Search

| Feature | Web Search (this) | LLM Context (llm-context) | Answers (answers) | |--|--|--|--| | Output | Structured results (links, snippets, metadata) | Pre-extracted page content for LLMs | End-to-end AI answers with citations | | Result types | Web, news, videos, discussions, FAQ, infobox, locations, rich | Extracted text chunks, tables, code | Synthesized answer + source list | | Unique features | Goggles, structured data (schemas), rich callbacks | Token budget control, threshold modes | Multi-iteration search, streaming, OpenAI SDK compatible | | Speed | Fast (~0.5-1s) | Fast (<1s) | Slower (~30-180s) | | Best for | Search UIs, data extraction, custom ranking | RAG pipelines, AI agents, grounding | Chat interfaces, thorough research |

Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |--|--|--|--|--| | q | string | Yes | - | Search query (1-400 chars, max 50 words) | | country | string | No | US | Search country (2-letter country code or ALL) | | search_lang | string | No | en | Language preference (2+ char language code) | | ui_lang | string | No | en-US | UI language (e.g., "en-US") | | count | int | No | 20 | Max results per page (1-20) | | offset | int | No | 0 | Page offset for pagination (0-9) | | safesearch | string | No | moderate | Adult content filter (off/moderate/strict) | | freshness | string | No | - | Time filter (pd/pw/pm/py or date range) | | text_decorations | bool | No | true | Include highlight markers | | spellcheck | bool | No | true | Auto-correct query | | result_filter | string | No | - | Filter result types (comma-separated) | | goggles | string | No | - | Custom ranking filter (URL or inline) | | extra_snippets | bool | No | - | Get up to 5 extra snippets per result | | operators | bool | No | true | Apply search operators | | units | string | No | - | Measurement units (metric/imperial) | | enable_rich_callback | bool | No | false | Enable rich 3rd party data callback | | include_fetch_metadata | bool | No | false | Include fetched_content_timestamp on results |

Freshness Values

| Value | Description | |--|--| | pd | Past day (24 hours) | | pw | Past week (7 days) | | pm | Past month (31 days) | | py | Past year (365 days) | | YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD | Custom date range |

Result Filter Values

Filter types: discussions, faq, infobox, news, query, videos, web, locations

# Only web and video results
curl "...&result_filter=web,videos"

Location Headers (Optional)

For location-aware results, add these headers. Lat/Long is sufficient when coordinates are known — the other headers are only needed as a fallback when coordinates are unavailable.

| Header | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | X-Loc-Lat | float | User latitude (-90.0 to 90.0) | | X-Loc-Long | float | User longitude (-180.0 to 180.0) | | X-Loc-Timezone | string | IANA timezone (e.g., "America/San_Francisco") | | X-Loc-City | string | City name | | X-Loc-State | string | State/region code (ISO 3166-2) | | X-Loc-State-Name | string | State/region full name (e.g., "California") | | X-Loc-Country | string | 2-letter country code | | X-Loc-Postal-Code | string | Postal code (e.g., "94105") |

Priority: X-Loc-Lat + X-Loc-Long take precedence. When provided, downstream services resolve the location directly from coordinates and the text-based headers (City, State, Country, Postal-Code) are not used for location resolution. Provide text-based headers only when you don't have coordinates. Sending both won't break anything — lat/long simply wins.

Response Format

Response Fields

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | Always "search" | | query.original | string | The original search query | | query.altered | string? | Spellcheck-corrected query (if changed) | | query.cleaned | string? | Cleaned/normalized query | | query.spellcheck_off | bool? | Whether spellcheck was disabled | | query.more_results_available | bool | Whether more pages exist | | query.show_strict_warning | bool? | True if strict safesearch blocked adult results | | query.search_operators | object? | Applied search operators (applied, cleaned_query, sites) | | web.type | string | Always "search" | | web.results[].title | string | Page title | | web.results[].url | string | Page URL | | web.results[].description | string? | Snippet/description text | | web.results[].age | string? | Human-readable age (e.g., "2 days ago") | | web.results[].language | string? | Content language code | | web.results[].meta_url | object | URL components (scheme, netloc, hostname, path) | | web.results[].thumbnail | object? | Thumbnail (src, original) | | web.results[].thumbnail.original | string? | Original full-size image URL | | web.results[].thumbnail.logo | bool? | Whether the thumbnail is a logo | | web.results[].profile | object? | Publisher identity (name, url, long_name, img) | | web.results[].page_age | string? | ISO datetime of publication (e.g., "2025-04-12T14:22:41") | | web.results[].extra_snippets | list[str]? | Up to 5 additional excerpts | | web.results[].deep_results | object? | Additional links (buttons, links) from the page | | web.results[].schemas | list? | Raw schema.org structured data | | web.results[].product | object? | Product info and reviews | | web.results[].recipe | object? | Recipe details (ingredients, time, ratings) | | web.results[].article | object? | Article metadata (author, publisher, date) | | web.results[].book | object? | Book info (author, ISBN, rating) | | web.results[].software | object? | Software product info | | web.results[].rating | object? | Aggregate ratings | | web.results[].faq | object? | FAQ found on the page | | web.results[].movie | object? | Movie info (directors, actors, genre) | | web.results[].video | object? | Video metadata (duration, views, creator) | | web.results[].location | object? | Location/restaurant details | | web.results[].qa | object? | Question/answer info | | web.results[].creative_work | object? | Creative work data | | web.results[].music_recording | object? | Music/song data | | web.results[].organization | object? | Organization info | | web.results[].review | object? | Review data | | web.results[].content_type | string? | Content type classification | | web.results[].fetched_content_timestamp | int? | Fetch timestamp (with include_fetch_metadata=true) | | web.mutated_by_goggles | bool | Whether results were re-ranked by Goggles | | web.family_friendly | bool | Whether results are family-friendly | | mixed | object? | Preferred display order (see Mixed Response below) | | discussions.results[] | array? | Forum discussion clusters | | discussions.results[].data.forum_name | string? | Forum/community name | | discussions.results[].data.num_answers | int? | Number of answers/replies | | discussions.results[].data.question | string? | Discussion question | | discussions.results[].data.top_comment | string? | Top-voted comment excerpt | | faq.results[] | array? | FAQ entries | | news.results[] | array? | News articles | | videos.results[] | array? | Video results | | infobox.results[] | array? | Knowledge graph entries | | locations.results[] | array? | Local POI results | | rich.hint.vertical | string? | Rich result type | | rich.hint.callback_key | string? | Callback key for rich data |

JSON Example

{
  "type": "search",
  "query": {
    "original": "python frameworks",
    "altered": "python web frameworks",
    "spellcheck_off": false,
    "more_results_available": true
  },
  "web": {
    "type": "search",
    "results": [
      {
        "title": "Top Python Web Frameworks",
        "url": "https://example.com/python-frameworks",
        "description": "A comprehensive guide to Python web frameworks...",
        "age": "2 days ago",
        "language": "en",
        "meta_url": {
          "scheme": "https",
          "netloc": "example.com",
          "hostname": "example.com",
          "path": "/python-frameworks"
        },
        "thumbnail": {
          "src": "https://...",
          "original": "https://original-image-url.com/img.jpg"
        },
        "extra_snippets": ["Additional excerpt 1...", "Additional excerpt 2..."]
      }
    ],
    "family_friendly": true
  },
  "mixed": {
    "type": "mixed",
    "main": [
      {"type": "web", "index": 0, "all": false},
      {"type": "web", "index": 1, "all": false},
      {"type": "videos", "all": true}
    ],
    "top": [],
    "side": []
  },
  "videos": { "...": "..." },
  "news": { "...": "..." },
  "rich": {
    "type": "rich",
    "hint": {
      "vertical": "weather",
      "callback_key": "<callback_key_hex>"
    }
  }
}

Mixed Response

The mixed object defines the preferred display order of results across types. It contains three arrays:

| Array | Purpose | |--|--| | main | Primary result list (ordered sequence of results to display) | | top | Results to display above main results | | side | Results to display alongside main results (e.g., infobox) |

Each entry is a ResultReference with type (e.g., "web", "videos"), index (into the corresponding result array), and all (true to include all results of that type at this position).

Search Operators

| Operator | Syntax | Description | |--|--|--| | Site | site:example.com | Limit results to a specific domain | | File extension | ext:pdf | Results with a specific file extension | | File type | filetype:pdf | Results created in a specific file type | | In title | intitle:python | Pages with term in the title | | In body | inbody:tutorial | Pages with term in the body | | In page | inpage:guide | Pages with term in title or body | | Language | lang:es | Pages in a specific language (ISO 639-1) | | Location | loc:us | Pages from a specific country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) | | Include | +term | Force inclusion of a term | | Exclude | -term | Exclude pages containing the term | | Exact match | "exact phrase" | Match the exact phrase in order | | AND | term1 AND term2 | Both terms required (uppercase) | | OR / NOT | term1 OR term2, NOT term | Logical operators (uppercase) |

Set operators=false to disable operator parsing.

Goggles (Custom Ranking) — Unique to Brave

Goggles let you re-rank search results — boost trusted sources, suppress SEO spam, or build focused search scopes.

| Method | Example | |--|--| | Hosted | --data-urlencode "goggles=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brave/goggles-quickstart/main/goggles/rust_programming.goggle" | | Inline | --data-urlencode 'goggles=$discard\n$site=example.com' |

Hosted goggles must be on GitHub/GitLab, include ! name:, ! description:, ! author: headers, and be registered at https://search.brave.com/goggles/create. Inline rules need no registration.

Syntax: $boost=N / $downrank=N (1–10), $discard, $site=example.com. Combine with commas: $site=example.com,boost=3. Separate rules with \n (%0A).

Allow list: $discard\n$site=docs.python.org\n$site=developer.mozilla.org — Block list: $discard,site=pinterest.com\n$discard,site=quora.com

Resources: Discover · Syntax · Quickstart

Rich Data Enrichments

For queries about weather, stocks, sports, currency, etc., use the rich callback workflow:

# 1. Search with rich callback enabled
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=weather+san+francisco&enable_rich_callback=true" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

# Response includes: "rich": {"hint": {"callback_key": "abc123...", "vertical": "weather"}}

# 2. Get rich data with the callback key
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/rich?callback_key=abc123..." \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

Supported Rich Types: Calculator, Definitions, Unit Conversion, Unix Timestamp, Package Tracker, Stock, Currency, Cryptocurrency, Weather, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football/Soccer, Ice Hockey, Web3, Translator

Rich Callback Endpoint

GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/rich

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description | |--|--|--|--| | callback_key | string | Yes | Callback key from the web search rich.hint.callback_key field |

Use Cases

• General-purpose search integration: Richest result set (web, news, videos, discussions, FAQ, infobox, locations) in one call. For RAG/LLM grounding, prefer llm-context.
• Structured data extraction: Products, recipes, ratings, articles via schemas and typed fields on results.
• Custom search with Goggles: Unique to Brave. Boost/discard sites with inline rules or hosted Goggles for fully customized ranking.

Notes

• Pagination: Use offset (0-9) with count to page through results
• Count: Max 20 for web search; actual results may be less than requested