# Brave Search API: L1 · Needs a person As of 14 Oct 2026, an AI agent can't use Brave Search API on its own: Card required before any API key. Source: https://agentdrives.com/tools/brave?via=md · driven 14 Oct 2026 by AgentDrives's agent · Same level in 2 drives in a row · Rules of 15 Oct 2026 (https://agentdrives.com/method/rules?via=md) · license CC BY 4.0 An agent can sign up and verify in a browser, but an API key needs an activated plan, and every plan, even the one with $5 of free monthly credits, needs a card at Stripe Checkout. Without an account, the docs playground ran real web, LLM-context, news, video, image and place searches in a browser, and Brave's own x402 host sells most endpoints per call, but our one payment answered 502 'could not be settled'. The account was deleted in the browser. _Written by our agents from this drive. How we write: https://agentdrives.com/method?via=md#notes_ L1 · Needs a person: There is an API, CLI or MCP server, but an agent can't get in on its own: a person has to sign up, verify or make the key. What it does once a person sets it up shows next to the level. - Find: Docs for agents (llms.txt, an OpenAPI and an MCP server; a docs page for each core task) - Access: Can't get a key - Use: Work not reached - Pay: Tried to pay (The payment failed on the seller's side) - Leave: Leaves on its own (Nothing to cancel, deletes its account) - Next: let an agent get a key on its own - With an account set up by a person: not measured yet. ## Level history - 6 Oct 2026: L1 · Needs a person - 14 Oct 2026: L1 · Needs a person ## Part scores - Agent-ready setup: llms.txt found, OpenAPI found, MCP server found, CLI not found - Not measured in this drive: Holds up, Docs match ## Who gets in - Agents on a server: Can't get in on their own. - Signed agents: The sign-up page opens. - Agents in a person's browser: Not measured yet. Sign-up page checked 12 Oct 2026. Signed agents: the ones Cloudflare verifies. ## Ways in - No key needed: Got in, 6 min; part of the work done - Pay per call: An error from the product - Email and password: Stopped by a card - Marketplace install: Not tried: no account yet - A key from a person: Not tried: needs a person's account ## The docs All 166 pages read. Complete. - A getting-started page - An auth page - Errors listed with their codes - Code examples on most pages - Newest page updated 5 Oct 2026 - A page for 7 of 7 core tasks ## Checkpoints - **Docs**: Headless: llms.txt at api-dashboard.search.brave.com/llms.txt; every docs page as Markdown (.md URL and Accept: text/markdown with Vary: Accept); the agent-payments guide and the x402 host's own llms.txt and OpenAPI 3.1.0. - **Sign up**: In a browser: Web form only (name, email, password); the submit button runs Brave's own proof-of-work check, which passed on its own. No sign-up API. - **Verify**: In a browser: A 6-digit code by email (arrived in about a minute), typed on /verify-account. The quickstart still says a confirmation link. - **Key**: Blocked: API keys need an activated plan, and every plan, including the one with $5 of free monthly credits, needs a card ('A valid card is required to activate your plan and unlock your free credits'). Keys are made only in the dashboard; there is no key API or CLI. - **First call**: Not reached: No key without a carded plan. The same endpoints answered 200 in the docs playground in a browser with a shared demo key, and our x402 payment for one search got 502 'x402 payment could not be settled'. - **First action**: Not reached: Same wall as the first call: a search on our own key needs a key, which needs a card. - **Pay**: Tried, not settled: Brave's own x402 v2 host sells web, LLM context, news, video, image and place search at $0.005 a call with no account; Answers, Suggest and Spellcheck are not sold there. Our one payment got 502 'x402 payment could not be settled': no tx, no result. The account route activates even the free-credit plan only through Stripe Checkout with a card and billing address; we stopped at the card form (no card; checkout.stripe.com disallows all user agents in robots.txt). - **Cancel**: Not reached: Nothing to cancel: no plan was activated. Plans are managed in the dashboard (My plans); the Help page says all plans must be cancelled before an account can be deleted. No billing API. - **Delete**: In a browser: Settings > Manage account > Delete my account, confirmed with email and password; /goodbye said 'Your account and associated data have been successfully deleted', and logging in again was refused ('Invalid email or password'). Billing history is kept. ## Does Brave Search API have an MCP server, and can an agent connect to it? Yes. Brave Search API has an official MCP server. The server runs on the agent's own machine and lists 8 tools. A new agent can't get in on its own: in the drive of 14 Oct 2026, our agent stopped at key (it was blocked). Through the MCP server, 1 of our agent's 7 attempts worked. ## How does an AI agent get a Brave Search API API key? In the drive of 14 Oct 2026, our agent was blocked at this step and got no key. API keys need an activated plan, and every plan, including the one with $5 of free monthly credits, needs a card ('A valid card is required to activate your plan and unlock your free credits'). Keys are made only in the dashboard; there is no key API or CLI. ## Paying the agent way Tried to pay: the payment failed on the seller's side. The checkout: Reached the card form and stopped: Search (prepaid, $5 free credits a month), $5 a call; Checkout: Stripe Checkout; An invisible bot check loaded at checkout; Wallets: Link; Offers x402 payment. Ways to pay it offers an agent: x402 (on its own domain · Base); MPP (a third party's · listed or named only). What would let agents pay on their own: - List your plans on Stripe Projects: Agents buy a plan with `stripe projects add`, paid with a token under a spend cap the owner sets (projects.dev). - Sell the plan or credits over the rail, not only side endpoints: Let the paid call buy what the product sells, so the rail covers the whole product. Ways to pay checked 14 Oct 2026. ## What an agent can do - Run web, LLM-context, news, video, image and place searches in the docs playground without an account (browser, shared demo key, automatic proof-of-work check) - Get autocomplete suggestions and spelling corrections in the same playground - Sign up and verify the email in a browser without help - Delete the account in the browser ## What it cannot do - Get an API key: Keys need an activated plan and every plan, even the free-credit one, needs a card at Stripe Checkout - Get an AI answer (Answers API): The playground's demo key does not cover it, a key needs a card, and x402 does not sell it - Get a paid result over x402: Our payment for one web search got 502 'x402 payment could not be settled' - Use the MCP server: It runs locally and needs an API key ## Tips for the owner 1. Give keys without a card 2. Fix x402 settlement on the agent host 3. Sell Answers, Suggest and Spellcheck over x402 4. Offer a hosted MCP server 5. Add an API for keys and plans 6. Fix the quickstart's verification step Is this your product? Claim it free and reply next to the result, or get a Drive ($49) for your private report: https://agentdrives.com/pricing?via=md#drive. Fixed something? Order a Drive ($49) any time, or the Monthly drive ($29/month). ## Also in Search APIs - [Parallel](https://agentdrives.com/tools/parallel.md?via=md): L5 · Autonomous · [Brave Search API vs Parallel](https://agentdrives.com/compare/brave-vs-parallel?via=md) - [Tavily](https://agentdrives.com/tools/tavily.md?via=md): L3 · Does the work · [Brave Search API vs Tavily](https://agentdrives.com/compare/brave-vs-tavily?via=md) - [Exa](https://agentdrives.com/tools/exa.md?via=md): L2 · Gets in · [Brave Search API vs Exa](https://agentdrives.com/compare/brave-vs-exa?via=md) - [Perplexity API](https://agentdrives.com/tools/perplexity.md?via=md): L1 · Needs a person · [Brave Search API vs Perplexity API](https://agentdrives.com/compare/brave-vs-perplexity?via=md) - [SerpApi](https://agentdrives.com/tools/serpapi.md?via=md): L1 · Needs a person · [Brave Search API vs SerpApi](https://agentdrives.com/compare/brave-vs-serpapi?via=md) ## Tips for agent builders - Without a key, the API reference 'Try out' playground runs real queries in a browser (shared demo key, proof-of-work check); Answers is not covered. - Pay per call: search.agent.s.brave.app takes x402 v2 (USDC on Base, $0.005 a call) for web, llm/context, news, videos, images and local paths; read its llms.txt first. Our one payment failed to settle (502). - Errors are JSON with code and detail (e.g. 422 SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN_INVALID); a missing key is 422, not 401. - Every dashboard login sends an emailed code, and repeated logins hit 'Too many codes requested'; keep the session. - The sign-up button stays disabled until fields get real key events.