web-search

name: web-search description: USE FOR web search. Returns ranked results with snippets, URLs, thumbnails. Supports freshness filters, SafeSearch, Goggles for custom ranking, pagination. Primary search endpoint.

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

Parameters

Freshness Values

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.

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

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:

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

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.

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: Rules start with $ + comma-separated options. Actions (pick one): discard, boost[=N], downrank[=N] — N is an integer 1–10. Site filter: site=DOMAIN. Example: $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

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