Web Search

# Web Search

> **Requires API Key**: Get one at https://api.search.brave.com
>
> **Plan**: Included in the **Search** plan. See https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/subscriptions/subscribe

## Quick Start (cURL)

### Basic Search
```bash
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=python+web+frameworks" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"
```

### With Parameters
```bash
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "q=rust programming tutorials" \
  --data-urlencode "country=US" \
  --data-urlencode "search_lang=en" \
  --data-urlencode "count=10" \
  --data-urlencode "safesearch=moderate" \
  --data-urlencode "freshness=pm"
```

## Endpoint

```http
GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search
POST https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search
```

**Note**: Both GET and POST methods are supported. POST is useful for long queries or complex Goggles.

**Authentication**: `X-Subscription-Token: <API_KEY>` header

**Optional Headers**:
- `Accept-Encoding: gzip` — Enable gzip compression

## When to Use Web Search

| Feature | Web Search (this) | LLM Context (`llm-context`) | Answers (`answers`) |
|--|--|--|--|
| Output | Structured results (links, snippets, metadata) | Pre-extracted page content for LLMs | End-to-end AI answers with citations |
| Result types | Web, news, videos, discussions, FAQ, infobox, locations, rich | Extracted text chunks, tables, code | Synthesized answer + source list |
| Unique features | Goggles, structured data (`schemas`), rich callbacks | Token budget control, threshold modes | Multi-iteration search, streaming, OpenAI SDK compatible |
| Speed | Fast (~0.5-1s) | Fast (<1s) | Slower (~30-180s) |
| Best for | Search UIs, data extraction, custom ranking | RAG pipelines, AI agents, grounding | Chat interfaces, thorough research |

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|--|--|--|--|--|
| `q` | string | **Yes** | - | Search query (1-400 chars, max 50 words) |
| `country` | string | No | `US` | Search country (2-letter country code or `ALL`) |
| `search_lang` | string | No | `en` | Language preference (2+ char language code) |
| `ui_lang` | string | No | `en-US` | UI language (e.g., "en-US") |
| `count` | int | No | `20` | Max results per page (1-20) |
| `offset` | int | No | `0` | Page offset for pagination (0-9) |
| `safesearch` | string | No | `moderate` | Adult content filter (`off`/`moderate`/`strict`) |
| `freshness` | string | No | - | Time filter (`pd`/`pw`/`pm`/`py` or date range) |
| `text_decorations` | bool | No | `true` | Include highlight markers |
| `spellcheck` | bool | No | `true` | Auto-correct query |
| `result_filter` | string | No | - | Filter result types (comma-separated) |
| `goggles` | string | No | - | Custom ranking filter (URL or inline) |
| `extra_snippets` | bool | No | - | Get up to 5 extra snippets per result |
| `operators` | bool | No | `true` | Apply search operators |
| `units` | string | No | - | Measurement units (`metric`/`imperial`) |
| `enable_rich_callback` | bool | No | `false` | Enable rich 3rd party data callback |
| `include_fetch_metadata` | bool | No | `false` | Include `fetched_content_timestamp` on results |

### Freshness Values

| Value | Description |
|--|--|
| `pd` | Past day (24 hours) |
| `pw` | Past week (7 days) |
| `pm` | Past month (31 days) |
| `py` | Past year (365 days) |
| `YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD` | Custom date range |

### Result Filter Values

Filter types: `discussions`, `faq`, `infobox`, `news`, `query`, `videos`, `web`, `locations`

```bash
# Only web and video results
curl "...&resu