Brave Search API

OpenClaw supports Brave Search API as a web_search provider.

Get an API key

1. Create a Brave Search API account at https://brave.com/search/api/
2. In the dashboard, choose the Search plan and generate an API key.
3. Store the key in config or set BRAVE_API_KEY in the Gateway environment.

Config example

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      brave: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "BRAVE_API_KEY_HERE",
            mode: "web", // or "llm-context"
            baseUrl: "https://api.search.brave.com", // optional proxy/base URL override
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "brave",
        maxResults: 5,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
      },
    },
  },
}

Provider-specific Brave search settings now live under plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.*. Legacy tools.web.search.apiKey still loads through the compatibility shim, but it is no longer the canonical config path.

webSearch.mode controls the Brave transport:

• web (default): normal Brave web search with titles, URLs, and snippets
• llm-context: Brave LLM Context API with pre-extracted text chunks and sources for grounding

webSearch.baseUrl can point Brave requests at a trusted Brave-compatible proxy or gateway. OpenClaw appends /res/v1/web/search or /res/v1/llm/context to the configured base URL and keeps the base URL in the cache key. Public endpoints must use https://; http:// is accepted only for trusted loopback or private-network proxy hosts.

Tool parameters

Examples:

// Country and language-specific search
await web_search({
  query: "renewable energy",
  country: "DE",
  language: "de",
});

// Recent results (past week)
await web_search({
  query: "AI news",
  freshness: "week",
});

// Date range search
await web_search({
  query: "AI developments",
  date_after: "2024-01-01",
  date_before: "2024-06-30",
});

Notes

• OpenClaw uses the Brave Search plan. If you have a legacy subscription (e.g. the original Free plan with 2,000 queries/month), it remains valid but does not include newer features like LLM Context or higher rate limits.
• Each Brave plan includes $5/month in free credit (renewing). The Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests, so the credit covers 1,000 queries/month. Set your usage limit in the Brave dashboard to avoid unexpected charges. See the Brave API portal for current plans.
• The Search plan includes the LLM Context endpoint and AI inference rights. Storing results to train or tune models requires a plan with explicit storage rights. See the Brave Terms of Service.
• llm-context mode returns grounded source entries instead of the normal web-search snippet shape.
• llm-context mode supports freshness and bounded date_after + date_before ranges. It does not support ui_lang; date_before without date_after is rejected because Brave requires custom freshness ranges to include both start and end dates.
• ui_lang must include a region subtag like en-US.
• Results are cached for 15 minutes by default (configurable via cacheTtlMinutes).
• Custom webSearch.baseUrl values are included in Brave cache identity, so proxy-specific responses do not collide.
• Enable the brave.http diagnostics flag to log Brave request URLs/query params, response status/timing, and search-cache hit/miss/write events while troubleshooting. The flag never logs the API key or response bodies, but search queries can be sensitive.

Related

• Web Search overview -- all providers and auto-detection
• Perplexity Search -- structured results with domain filtering
• Exa Search -- neural search with content extraction