Agent skill

Web Search Brave

by jwynia in jwynia/agent-skills

Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets.

MITAuto-check passedProductivity & Automation

Install Web Search Brave

skills CLI
$ npx skills add jwynia/agent-skills --skill web-search-brave -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install jwynia/agent-skills web-search-brave --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jwynia/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/general/research/tools/web-search-brave .claude/skills/web-search-brave && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
web-search-brave
GitHub stars
170
Token cost
~2k tokens
SKILL.md length
757 words
Files
2 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
111
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets.

  • Works in 3 steps: Get an API key from… → Set the environment variable → Or run with the variable inline
  • You need web search results with country/language targeting
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use This Skill, Prerequisites, Quick Start and Script Usage, plus 6 more sections
  • Runs TypeScript scripts from its folder; calls deno; reaches react.dev; needs BRAVE_API_KEY

What it does

Web Search Brave is an agent skill from jwynia/agent-skills. Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets. Use when you need web search results with country/language targeting or time-based filtering. Requires BRAVEAPIKEY. Keywords: brave, web search, localized search, privacy search, freshness filtering.

Its SKILL.md is about 2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including scripts (for example `scripts/search.ts`). Compatibility notes: Requires BRAVEAPIKEY environment variable and internet access

It sits in Productivity & Automation, covering Web search. It works with Brave Search API. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • You need web search results with country/language targeting
  • Time-based filtering

Example prompts

  • “/web-search-brave”

Requirements

  • Node.js
  • A credential in BRAVE_API_KEY
  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable and internet access

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Get an API key from https://brave.com/search/api/
  2. Set the environment variable
  3. Or run with the variable inline

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e02ec7e. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 1 file in scripts/ (TypeScript), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • deno

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • react.dev

    Also links to:

    • brave.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • BRAVE_API_KEY

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Requires BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable and internet access

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Web Search Brave loads about 2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 88 tokens; SKILL.md has 757 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~88
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jwynia/agent-skills at commit e02ec7e, republished under its MIT licence (© jwynia). 757 words, ~1,988 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/web-search-brave/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
web-search-brave
description
Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets. Use when you need web search results with country/language targeting or time-based filtering. Requires BRAVE_API_KEY. Keywords: brave, web search, localized search, privacy search, freshness filtering.
compatibility
Requires BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable and internet access
license
MIT
metadata.author
agent-skills
metadata.version
1.0
metadata.type
utility
metadata.mode
generative
metadata.domain
research

Web Search (Brave Search API)

Search the web using Brave's Search API. Returns web results with descriptions, optional extra snippets, and support for country/language targeting.

Note: This skill requires a Brave Search API key. For basic web search using the agent's built-in capability, see web-search. For AI-optimized results with relevance scores, see web-search-tavily.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • You need to find current information not in your training data
  • The user asks about recent events, news, or updates
  • You need localized search results for a specific country or language
  • You want a privacy-respecting search alternative
  • Research requires real-time web data
  • Keywords mentioned: search, look up, find online, current, latest, news

Do NOT use this skill when:

  • Information is already in your knowledge base and doesn't need verification
  • The user asks about historical facts that don't change
  • You're working with local files or code (use other tools)
  • A more specific skill exists for the task (e.g., documentation lookup)
  • You need AI-generated answer summaries (use web-search-tavily instead)

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, ensure:

  • BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable is set with a valid API key
  • Deno is installed (for running the search script)
  • Internet access is available

Get a Brave Search API key at: https://brave.com/search/api/

Quick Start

Run a simple search:

bash
deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "your search query"

Example with freshness filter:

bash
deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "React 19 new features" --freshness pw

Script Usage

bash
deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts [options] "query"
Options
OptionDescriptionDefault
--results <n>Number of results to return (max 20)5
--freshness <range>Time filter: pd, pw, pm, or pynone
--country <code>Country code for localized results (e.g., US, GB, DE)none
--lang <code>Search language (e.g., en, fr, de)none
--safesearch <level>Safe search: off, moderate, or strictmoderate
--extra-snippetsInclude additional content snippetsfalse
--offset <n>Pagination offset0
--jsonOutput as JSON (for programmatic use)false
--helpShow help message-

Search Parameters

Freshness Values

Filter results by recency:

  • pd: Past day (last 24 hours)
  • pw: Past week (last 7 days)
  • pm: Past month (last 30 days)
  • py: Past year (last 365 days)
Country Codes

Use standard 2-character country codes to get localized results:

  • US (United States), GB (United Kingdom), DE (Germany), FR (France), JP (Japan), etc.
Safe Search Levels
  • off: No filtering
  • moderate (default): Filters explicit content
  • strict: Strictest filtering

Output Format

Human-Readable Output (default)
Search: "React 19 new features"

Found 5 results in 189ms

1. React 19 Release Notes
   https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19
   React 19 is now available on npm! This release includes...
   Age: 2 months ago

2. What's New in React 19
   https://example.com/react-19-features
   A comprehensive overview of React 19's new features...
JSON Output (--json)
json
{
  "query": "React 19 new features",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "React 19 Release Notes",
      "url": "https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19",
      "description": "React 19 is now available on npm...",
      "age": "2 months ago",
      "language": "en",
      "family_friendly": true
    }
  ],
  "response_time": 189,
  "total_results": 1250000
}
Result Fields
FieldTypeDescription
titlestringPage title
urlstringSource URL
descriptionstringRelevant excerpt from the page
extra_snippetsstring[]Additional content snippets (only with --extra-snippets)
agestringHow old the result is (e.g., "2 hours ago")
languagestringLanguage of the result
family_friendlybooleanWhether the result is family-friendly

Examples

Scenario: Find recent news about a technology topic

bash
scripts/search.ts "OpenAI GPT-5 announcement" --freshness pw --results 10

Expected output: Recent web results about GPT-5 from the past week

Example 2: Documentation Lookup

Scenario: Find specific technical documentation

bash
scripts/search.ts "Deno deploy edge functions tutorial" --results 10 --extra-snippets

Expected output: Comprehensive results with extra snippets from documentation and tutorial sites

Show full SKILL.md (298 more words)Show less

Scenario: Find results targeted to a specific country and language

bash
scripts/search.ts "aktuelle Nachrichten" --country DE --lang de --freshness pd

Expected output: German-language results from Germany from the past day

Example 4: Filtered Search with JSON Output

Scenario: Get structured results with strict safe search

bash
scripts/search.ts "machine learning tutorials" --safesearch strict --extra-snippets --json

Expected output: JSON results with extra snippets, filtered for safe content

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: "BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable is not set"

Symptoms: Script exits immediately with API key error

Solution:

  1. Get an API key from https://brave.com/search/api/
  2. Set the environment variable:
    bash
    export BRAVE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
  3. Or run with the variable inline:
    bash
    BRAVE_API_KEY="your-key" deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.search.brave.com scripts/search.ts "query"
Issue: "Invalid Brave Search API key"

Symptoms: 401 authentication error

Solution:

  1. Verify your API key is correct (no extra spaces)
  2. Check if your API key has expired
  3. Verify your Brave Search API subscription is active
Issue: "Brave Search API rate limit exceeded"

Symptoms: 429 error response

Solution:

  1. Wait a moment and retry
  2. Reduce request frequency
  3. Consider upgrading your Brave Search API plan for higher limits
Issue: No results returned

Symptoms: Empty results array

Solution:

  1. Try broader search terms
  2. Remove country or language filters that might be too restrictive
  3. Remove or widen the freshness filter
  4. Check if the topic exists online

Limitations

This skill has the following limitations:

  • Requires active internet connection
  • API rate limits apply based on your Brave Search API plan
  • Results depend on Brave's index coverage
  • Cannot access paywalled or login-required content
  • No built-in AI-generated answer summaries (use web-search-tavily for that)
  • Maximum 20 results per request
  • Extra snippets require a paid API plan
  • web-search: Basic web search using the agent's built-in capability
  • web-search-tavily: AI-optimized search with relevance scores and answer summaries
  • research-workflow: For comprehensive research projects that use multiple searches with planning and synthesis

© jwynia, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (scripts) in skills/general/research/tools/web-search-brave of jwynia/agent-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/search.ts

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e02ec7e

Compare with similar skills

Web Search Brave next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Web Search Brave compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Web Search Brave this skilljwynia/agent-skills170—~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Brave Searchbadlogic/pi-skills2.6k5 repos~592Automated safety check: PassMIT
Web Searchtmustier/pi-for-excel434—~410Automated safety check: PassMIT
Brave SearchLeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills2.2k—~4.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Brave SearchAnil-matcha/awesome-muse-connectors1.3k—~440Automated safety check: PassMIT
Qryma Searchaiskillstore/marketplace433—~567Automated safety check: NotesMIT

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Questions about Web Search Brave

What does Web Search Brave do?

Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets. Web Search Brave is an agent skill from jwynia/agent-skills. Search the web using Brave Search API for fast, privacy-respecting results with localization, freshness filtering, and extra snippets.

When should I use Web Search Brave?

Web Search Brave fits situations like: you need web search results with country/language targeting; time-based filtering.

How do I install Web Search Brave in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add jwynia/agent-skills --skill web-search-brave -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/general/research/tools/web-search-brave in jwynia/agent-skills) into .claude/skills/web-search-brave in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Web Search Brave in Codex?

Run `npx skills add jwynia/agent-skills --skill web-search-brave -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/general/research/tools/web-search-brave in jwynia/agent-skills) into .agents/skills/web-search-brave in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Web Search Brave in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add jwynia/agent-skills --skill web-search-brave -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/web-search-brave, .gemini/skills/web-search-brave, .github/skills/web-search-brave and .opencode/skills/web-search-brave in your project.

What does Web Search Brave need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Web Search Brave needs TypeScript for the scripts in its folder, the command-line tools its instructions call (deno) and credentials named BRAVE_API_KEY. Our summary lists: Node.js; A credential in BRAVE_API_KEY. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable and internet access.

Does Web Search Brave access the network?

SKILL.md names 2 domains. In commands or code: react.dev; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. As links in the text: brave.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Web Search Brave safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Web Search Brave use?

Web Search Brave is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Web Search Brave use?

About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Web Search Brave?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Web Search Brave: Brave Search (badlogic/pi-skills, 2.6k stars), Web Search (tmustier/pi-for-excel, 434 stars), Brave Search (LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills, 2.2k stars) and Brave Search (Anil-matcha/awesome-muse-connectors, 1.3k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Web Search Brave?

jwynia (a GitHub user) maintains it in jwynia/agent-skills, which has 170 GitHub stars. The repository holds 111 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on February 24, 2026.

Source: jwynia/agent-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.