Brave · Gemini CLI

Add the Brave Search MCP server to Gemini CLI

Web, image, video and news results plus AI summaries from Brave's independent index.

Official serverLocalWeb search & scraping

1. Add the server

Run in your terminal

gemini mcp add -e BRAVE_API_KEY=YOUR_VALUE brave-search npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server

2. Sign in

Run /mcp auth <name> inside Gemini CLI to sign in to an OAuth server. Brave Search runs locally and needs BRAVE_API_KEY. Replace the placeholder values above with your own before starting Gemini CLI.

3. Try it

Ask Gemini CLI for something Brave Search can do. Web, image, video and news results plus AI summaries from Brave's independent index. Approve the first tool call and check the result before allowing write actions automatically.

· In settings.json, streamable HTTP servers use httpUrl, SSE servers use url, local servers use command.
· includeTools and excludeTools limit which tools the model sees.

FAQ

How do I add the Brave Search MCP server to Gemini CLI?: Run: gemini mcp add -e BRAVE_API_KEY=YOUR_VALUE brave-search npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-server. Run /mcp auth <name> inside Gemini CLI to sign in to an OAuth server.
Is this the official Brave Search MCP server?: Yes. It is published by Brave as io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server in the official MCP registry.
Does the Brave Search MCP server need an API key?: Yes. It runs locally and requires BRAVE_API_KEY.

Links

Brave MCP docs Gemini CLI MCP docs Brave Search server details

Brave Search in other clients

Claude Code Codex Cursor VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

More web search & scraping for Gemini CLI

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Reviewed Oct 5, 2026. Command generated from the registry record and checked against Gemini CLI's documented syntax.