Brave Search

Brave Search

Access the Brave Search API with managed authentication. Search the web, images, news, and videos with a privacy-focused search engine.

Quick Start

# Web search
python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=python+programming&count=5')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Base URL

https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/{native-api-path}

Maton proxies requests to api.search.brave.com and automatically injects your API key.

Authentication

All requests require the Maton API key in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer $MATON_API_KEY

Environment Variable: Set your API key as MATON_API_KEY:

export MATON_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

Getting Your API Key

1. Sign in or create an account at maton.ai
2. Go to maton.ai/settings
3. Copy your API key

Connection Management

Manage your Brave Search connections at https://api.maton.ai.

List Connections

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections?app=brave-search&status=ACTIVE')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Create Connection

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
data = json.dumps({'app': 'brave-search'}).encode()
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections', data=data, method='POST')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('Content-Type', 'application/json')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Get Connection

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections/{connection_id}')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "connection": {
    "connection_id": "{connection_id}",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "creation_time": "2026-03-10T11:12:30.963141Z",
    "last_updated_time": "2026-03-10T11:13:55.282885Z",
    "url": "https://connect.maton.ai/?session_token=...",
    "app": "brave-search",
    "metadata": {},
    "method": "API_KEY"
  }
}

Delete Connection

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections/{connection_id}', method='DELETE')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Specifying Connection

If you have multiple Brave Search connections, specify which one to use with the Maton-Connection header:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=test')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('Maton-Connection', '{connection_id}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

If you have multiple connections, always include this header to ensure requests go to the intended account.

Security & Permissions

• Access is scoped to web search, news search, image search, and AI-powered summaries within the connected Brave Search account.
• All write operations require explicit user approval. Before executing any create, update, or delete call, confirm the target resource and intended effect with the user.

API Reference

Web Search

GET /brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q={query}

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Search query (1-400 characters, max 50 words)

Optional Parameters:

• country (string): 2-letter country code (default: "US")
• search_lang (string): Search language code (default: "en")
• ui_lang (string): UI language in RFC 9110 format (default: "en-US")
• count (integer): Results per page, 1-20 (default: 20)
• offset (integer): Page offset, 0-9 (default: 0)
• safesearch (string): Filter level - "off", "moderate", "strict" (default: "moderate")
• freshness (string): Time filter - "pd" (past day), "pw" (past week), "pm" (past month), "py" (past year), or date range
• text_decorations (boolean): Include highlighting markers (default: true)
• result_filter (string): Comma-separated result types (discussions, faq, infobox, news, videos, web)
• extra_snippets (boolean): Get up to 5 alternative excerpts
• summary (boolean): Enable summarizer

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=machine+learning&count=10&freshness=pw')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "search",
  "query": {
    "original": "machine learning",
    "show_strict_warning": false,
    "is_navigational": false,
    "country": "us",
    "more_results_available": true
  },
  "web": {
    "type": "search",
    "results": [
      {
        "title": "Machine Learning - Wikipedia",
        "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning",
        "description": "Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence...",
        "language": "en",
        "family_friendly": true
      }
    ]
  },
  "discussions": {...},
  "faq": {...},
  "videos": {...}
}

Image Search

GET /brave-search/res/v1/images/search?q={query}

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Search query

Optional Parameters:

• country (string): 2-letter country code
• search_lang (string): Search language code
• count (integer): Results per page, 1-20
• safesearch (string): Filter level - "off", "moderate", "strict"

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/images/search?q=sunset&count=5')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "images",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Beautiful Sunset",
      "url": "https://example.com/sunset.jpg",
      "source": "https://example.com/gallery",
      "thumbnail": {
        "src": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/..."
      },
      "properties": {
        "width": 1920,
        "height": 1080,
        "format": "jpeg"
      }
    }
  ]
}

News Search

GET /brave-search/res/v1/news/search?q={query}

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Search query

Optional Parameters:

• country (string): 2-letter country code
• search_lang (string): Search language code
• count (integer): Results per page, 1-20
• freshness (string): Time filter - "pd", "pw", "pm", "py"
• safesearch (string): Filter level

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/news/search?q=technology&count=5&freshness=pd')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "news",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Latest Tech News",
      "url": "https://example.com/news/tech",
      "description": "Breaking technology news...",
      "age": "2 hours ago",
      "source": {
        "name": "Tech News",
        "url": "https://technews.com"
      },
      "thumbnail": {
        "src": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/..."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Video Search

GET /brave-search/res/v1/videos/search?q={query}

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Search query

Optional Parameters:

• country (string): 2-letter country code
• search_lang (string): Search language code
• count (integer): Results per page, 1-20
• safesearch (string): Filter level

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/videos/search?q=tutorial&count=5')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "videos",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Python Tutorial for Beginners",
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...",
      "description": "Learn Python programming...",
      "age": "1 year ago",
      "duration": "3:45:00",
      "thumbnail": {
        "src": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/..."
      },
      "meta_url": {
        "hostname": "www.youtube.com"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Local POIs

GET /brave-search/res/v1/local/pois?ids={poi_ids}

Get details about local points of interest by their IDs (obtained from web search results).

Required Parameters:

• ids (string): Comma-separated POI IDs

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/local/pois?ids=poi_123,poi_456')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "local_pois",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "poi_123",
      "name": "Coffee Shop",
      "address": "123 Main St",
      "phone": "+1-555-1234",
      "rating": 4.5,
      "reviews": 128
    }
  ]
}

POI Descriptions

GET /brave-search/res/v1/local/descriptions?ids={poi_ids}

Get detailed descriptions for local points of interest.

Required Parameters:

• ids (string): Comma-separated POI IDs

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/local/descriptions?ids=poi_123')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "local_descriptions",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "poi_123",
      "description": "A cozy coffee shop known for artisanal brews..."
    }
  ]
}

Autosuggest

Note: Requires Autosuggest subscription plan.

GET /brave-search/res/v1/suggest/search?q={query}

Get search suggestions as users type.

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Partial search query

Optional Parameters:

• country (string): 2-letter country code
• count (integer): Number of suggestions to return
• rich (boolean): Enable enhanced metadata

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/suggest/search?q=how+to&count=5&rich=true')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "suggest",
  "query": {
    "original": "how to"
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "query": "how to learn python",
      "is_entity": false
    },
    {
      "query": "how to code",
      "is_entity": false
    }
  ]
}

Spellcheck

Note: Requires Spellcheck subscription plan.

GET /brave-search/res/v1/spellcheck/search?q={query}

Check spelling and get corrections.

Required Parameters:

• q (string): Query to check for spelling errors
• country (string): Country code for localized corrections

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/spellcheck/search?q=helo+wrold&country=US')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Response:

{
  "type": "spellcheck",
  "query": {
    "original": "helo wrold"
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "query": "hello world"
    }
  ]
}

Summarizer

Note: Requires Summarizer subscription plan.

First, perform a web search with summary=1 to get a summarizer key, then use that key to fetch the summary.

Get Summarizer Key

GET /brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q={query}&summary=1

Fetch Summary

GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/search?key={summarizer_key}

Optional Parameters:

• entity_info (boolean): Include entity details
• inline_references (boolean): Include citation markers

Example:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json

# Step 1: Get summarizer key from web search
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=what+is+python&summary=1')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
data = json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req))
summarizer_key = data.get('summarizer', {}).get('key')

# Step 2: Fetch summary using the key
if summarizer_key:
    req = urllib.request.Request(f'https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/search?key={summarizer_key}')
    req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
    print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Additional Summarizer Endpoints

GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/summary?key={key}           # Summary only
GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/title?key={key}             # Title only
GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/enrichments?key={key}       # Enrichment data
GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/followups?key={key}         # Follow-up suggestions
GET /brave-search/res/v1/summarizer/entity_info?key={key}       # Entity information

Pagination

Use count and offset for pagination:

# First page (results 1-10)
GET /brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=test&count=10&offset=0

# Second page (results 11-20)
GET /brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=test&count=10&offset=1

Note: offset ranges from 0-9, giving access to up to 200 results (20 results × 10 pages).

Check query.more_results_available in the response to determine if more results exist.

Location Headers

For location-aware results, include location headers:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=restaurants+near+me&count=10')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
req.add_header('x-loc-lat', '37.7749')
req.add_header('x-loc-long', '-122.4194')
req.add_header('x-loc-city', 'San Francisco')
req.add_header('x-loc-state', 'CA')
req.add_header('x-loc-country', 'US')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Available Location Headers:

• x-loc-lat: Latitude (-90 to 90)
• x-loc-long: Longitude (-180 to 180)
• x-loc-timezone: IANA timezone identifier
• x-loc-city: City name
• x-loc-state: State/province
• x-loc-country: 2-letter country code
• x-loc-postal-code: ZIP/postal code

Code Examples

JavaScript

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=javascript&count=10',
  {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.MATON_API_KEY}`
    }
  }
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.web.results);

Python

import os
import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search',
    headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}'},
    params={'q': 'python programming', 'count': 10}
)
data = response.json()
for result in data.get('web', {}).get('results', []):
    print(f"{result['title']}: {result['url']}")

Notes

• Maximum 20 results per request
• Maximum 10 pages of results (offset 0-9)
• Query length: 1-400 characters, max 50 words
• Brave Search is privacy-focused and doesn't track users
• Results include multiple types: web, news, videos, discussions, FAQ, infobox
• IMPORTANT: When piping curl output to jq or other commands, environment variables like $MATON_API_KEY may not expand correctly in some shell environments

Error Handling

Troubleshooting: API Key Issues

1. Check that the MATON_API_KEY environment variable is set:

echo $MATON_API_KEY

1. Verify the API key is valid by listing connections:

python <<'EOF'
import urllib.request, os, json
req = urllib.request.Request('https://api.maton.ai/connections')
req.add_header('Authorization', f'Bearer {os.environ["MATON_API_KEY"]}')
print(json.dumps(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req)), indent=2))
EOF

Troubleshooting: Invalid App Name

1. Ensure your URL path starts with brave-search. For example:

• Correct: https://api.maton.ai/brave-search/res/v1/web/search?q=test
• Incorrect: https://api.maton.ai/res/v1/web/search?q=test

Resources

• Brave Search API Documentation
• Brave Search API Dashboard
• Maton Community
• Maton Support