OpenClaw Brave Search Setup

What Is Brave Search?

Brave Search is an independent search engine built by the team behind the Brave browser. Unlike most search engines that rely on Google or Bing indexes under the hood, Brave Search uses its own web index — built from scratch by crawling the web independently.

This means Brave Search offers genuinely different results from Google-based alternatives, with a strong focus on privacy. There is no user tracking, no profiling, and no search history stored. For AI agents that need web search without privacy trade-offs, Brave Search is an excellent choice.

Why Use Brave Search with OpenClaw?

OpenClaw has a built-in web search capability and multiple search skill options. Here is how Brave Search compares:

If privacy is your top priority, or you want search results that come from an independent index rather than repackaged Google results, Brave Search is the way to go. It also has the most generous free tier at 2,000 queries per month.

Step 1: Get a Brave Search API Key

1. Go to brave.com/search/api and create an account
2. Choose the Free plan (2,000 queries/month) or a paid plan for higher limits
3. Navigate to the API Keys section in your dashboard
4. Copy your API key (this is your brave_api_key)

The free tier includes 2,000 queries per month — double what most search APIs offer. For personal AI agent use, this is more than enough. Paid plans start at $3/month for higher query volumes.

Step 2: Install the Brave Search Skill

Install the brave-search skill from ClawHub:

/skill install @anthropic/brave-search

The skill will prompt you for your Brave Search API key during installation. Enter the key you copied from the Brave Search API dashboard.

Alternatively, you can configure the API key manually in your openclaw.json:

{
  "skills": {
    "brave-search": {
      "apiKey": "BSA-your-brave-api-key-here"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Test It

After installation, test the Brave Search skill by asking your agent questions that require web search:

• “Search the web for privacy-focused alternatives to Google”
• “What are the latest developments in AI regulation?”
• “Find recent reviews of the Brave browser”

Your agent will use Brave Search to find results from its independent index. Results are returned as structured data that your agent can immediately use to generate informed responses.

Advanced Configuration

Result Count

By default, Brave Search returns a set number of results per query. You can adjust the count parameter to get more or fewer results depending on your needs:

• Fewer results (3–5) — Faster responses, less token usage, good for quick lookups
• More results (10–20) — More comprehensive research, better for in-depth questions

Search Freshness Filter

Brave Search supports a freshness parameter to filter results by recency:

• pd — Past day
• pw — Past week
• pm — Past month
• py — Past year

This is especially useful for AI agents that need current information, like news monitoring or real-time data lookups.

Safe Search

Brave Search includes a safesearch parameter with three levels:

• off — No filtering
• moderate (default) — Filters explicit content
• strict — Maximum filtering

Brave Search vs Tavily

Both are excellent search skills for OpenClaw, but they serve different needs:

• Choose Brave Search if you prioritize privacy, want results from an independent index (not Google-based), or need the most generous free tier (2,000 queries/month vs 1,000).
• Choose Tavily if you want AI-optimized structured output with direct answer extraction, or need advanced features like search depth control and domain filtering.
• Choose built-in web search if you don't want to set up an API key and need basic web lookups without any extra configuration.

You can also install both Brave Search and Tavily on the same OpenClaw agent. Your agent will choose the most appropriate search tool based on the query context.

Troubleshooting

API Key Errors

If you see authentication errors when your agent tries to search:

• Verify your Brave API key is correct and not expired
• Check for extra spaces or newlines in the key
• Confirm your account is active at brave.com/search/api
• Make sure the key is in the correct field (brave_api_key) in your configuration

Rate Limit Errors

If you hit rate limits on the free tier:

• Check your usage on the Brave Search API dashboard — the free tier allows 2,000 queries per month (approximately 66 per day)
• Consider upgrading to a paid plan if you need higher volume
• Reduce unnecessary searches by tuning your agent's system prompt to only search when needed

No Results Returned

If Brave Search returns empty results:

• Verify the skill is installed: /skill list
• Try a broader search query — very specific or niche queries may return fewer results from Brave's independent index
• Check if the freshness filter is too restrictive

Use Brave Search on OpenClaw Launch

On OpenClaw Launch, the Brave Search skill is available as a one-click install from the Dashboard. Enter your Brave API key in the configurator, and it's automatically configured for your instance. No JSON editing needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Brave Search API free?

Yes. Brave Search offers a free tier with 2,000 queries per month, which is the most generous free tier among popular search APIs. The brave-search ClawHub skill itself is free to install. You only need a Brave Search API key (free to create at brave.com/search/api).

How do I get a Brave API key for OpenClaw?

Go to brave.com/search/api, create an account, and copy your API key from the dashboard. Then install the skill with /skill install @anthropic/brave-search and enter your key when prompted. The full process takes under two minutes.

Brave Search vs Tavily — which is better?

It depends on your priorities. Brave Search is better for privacy and uses its own independent search index with a more generous free tier (2,000 vs 1,000 queries/month). Tavily is better for AI-optimized structured output with direct answer extraction. Both work well with OpenClaw — you can even use both simultaneously.

Does Brave Search work offline?

No. Brave Search requires an internet connection to query the Brave Search API. Your OpenClaw agent must be able to reach api.search.brave.com to use this skill. For offline use, consider the SearXNG self-hosted search option.

What's Next?

• Tavily search setup — Compare with AI-optimized search as an alternative
• Built-in web search — Use OpenClaw's zero-config web search for basic lookups
• Explore all skills — Browse 3,200+ skills beyond search — coding, automation, image generation, and more
• See pricing — Deploy with Brave Search pre-configured, starting at $3/month