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Brave Search Integration

This guide covers setting up Brave Search for web search operations.

Overview

Brave Search provides fast, privacy-respecting web search results. When configured, Open Assistant uses Brave Search for web search operations.

Capabilities: - Web search with freshness filters (day, week, month, year) - Adjustable result count (up to 20) - Safe search filtering (off, moderate, strict) - Built-in rate-limit handling with automatic retry

Prerequisites

  • Brave Search API key (free tier available)

Step 1: Get an API Key

  1. Go to https://brave.com/search/api/
  2. Sign up for a free account (or log in)
  3. Under Developer Resources, click Get Started
  4. Create a new API key
  5. Copy the API key (starts with BSA...)

The free tier allows 1 request per second.

Step 2: Configure in Settings

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations > Brave Search
  2. Enable the Brave Search integration
  3. Paste your API key
  4. Configure optional settings:
  5. Results Limit: Maximum number of results (default: 10, max: 20)
  6. Safe Search: Filtering level — off, moderate (default), or strict
  7. Click Save
  8. Click Test Connection to verify

Or use environment variables:

BRAVE_ENABLED=true
BRAVE_API_KEY=BSA...
BRAVE_RESULTS_LIMIT=10
BRAVE_SAFE_SEARCH=moderate

How It Works

The Brave Search integration is used automatically when you ask the assistant to search the web. Example conversations:

You: Search for the latest news about AI assistants
Assistant: [Uses Brave Search to find current news articles]

You: Find restaurants near me that are open now
Assistant: [Uses Brave Search to find nearby restaurants with current hours]

Freshness Filters

You can request results from a specific time period:

Filter Brave API Value Description
day pd Past 24 hours
week pw Past 7 days
month pm Past 30 days
year py Past 365 days

Example: 

You: Find news about space exploration from the past week

Rate Limits

Tier Rate Limit
Free 1 request per second
Paid Higher limits available

If you exceed the rate limit, the client automatically retries with exponential backoff (up to 2 retries).

Troubleshooting

"Brave Search integration is not enabled"

  • Go to Settings > Integrations > Brave Search
  • Ensure the toggle is enabled
  • Verify an API key is saved

"Brave Search API key not found"

  • Check that the API key was saved correctly in Settings
  • The key starts with BSA...
  • Try deleting and re-entering the key

Rate limit errors in logs

  • Reduce the number of search requests
  • Upgrade to a paid Brave Search plan for higher limits
  • The system will automatically retry with backoff

Poor search results

  • Try using freshness filters to get more recent content

Security Considerations

  • API Key: Store securely — it grants access to your Brave Search quota
  • Search Queries: Search terms are sent to Brave's servers

API Reference

Last Updated: March 2026