bx — Brave Search CLI

Use
bx
for all web searches. Run

bx "query"

as the default — it returns pre-extracted, token-budgeted web content ready for use. Use

bx answers

for synthesized explanations or

bx web

for traditional search results. If

bx

is not found, install it:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brave/brave-search-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Requires: Brave Search API Key +
bx
binary
Plans: Different subcommands may require different plans. See https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/subscriptions/subscribe

Quick Start

bash

# Install (macOS/Linux)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brave/brave-search-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

# Configure API key (get one at https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com)
bx config set-key              # interactive (avoids shell history)
# or: export BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY

# Search (default = bx context "query")
bx "your search query"

When to Use Which Command

Your need	Command	Why
Look up docs, errors, code patterns	`bx "query"`	Pre-extracted text, token-budgeted (default)
Get a synthesized explanation	`bx answers "query"`	AI-generated, cites sources, streams
Deep research on complex topics	`bx answers "query" --enable-research`	Multi-search iterative research
Traditional search results	`bx web "query"`	All result types (web, news, discussions, etc.)
Find discussions/forums	`bx web "query" --result-filter discussions`	Forums often have solutions
Latest news / recent events	`bx news "query" --freshness pd`	Fresh info beyond training data
Find images	`bx images "query"`	Up to 200 results
Find videos	`bx videos "query"`	Duration, views, creator
Local businesses / places	`bx places "coffee" --location "San Francisco"`	200M+ POIs
Boost/filter specific domains	`bx "query" --include-site docs.rs`	Or use `--goggles` for full control

Commands

Command	Description	Output path
`context`	Default. RAG/LLM grounding — pre-extracted web content	`.grounding.generic[]` -> `{url, title, snippets[]}`
`answers`	AI answers — OpenAI-compatible, streaming by default	`.choices[0].delta.content` (stream)
`web`	Web search — all result types	`.web.results[]` , `.news.results[]` , etc.
`news`	News articles with freshness filters	`.results[]` -> `{title, url, age}`
`images`	Image search (up to 200 results)	`.results[]` -> `{title, url, thumbnail.src}`
`videos`	Video search with duration/views	`.results[]` -> `{title, url, video.duration}`
`places`	Local place/POI search (200M+ POIs)	`.results[]` -> `{title, postal_address}`
`suggest`	Autocomplete/query suggestions	`.results[]` -> `{query}`
`spellcheck`	Spell-check a query	`.results[0].query`
`config`	Manage API key and settings	`set-key` , `show-key` , `path` , `show`

Response Shapes

bx "query"
(context — default, recommended)

json

{
  "grounding": {
    "generic": [
      { "url": "...", "title": "...", "snippets": ["extracted content...", "..."] }
    ]
  },
  "sources": {
    "https://example.com": { "title": "...", "hostname": "...", "age": ["...", "2025-01-15", "392 days ago"] }
  }
}

bx answers "query" --no-stream
(single JSON response)

json

{"choices": [{"message": {"content": "Full answer text..."}}]}

bx answers "query"
(streaming — default, one JSON chunk per line)

json

{"choices": [{"delta": {"content": "chunk"}}]}

bx web "query"
(full search results)

json

{
  "web": { "results": [{"title": "...", "url": "...", "description": "..."}] },
  "news": { "results": [...] },
  "videos": { "results": [...] },
  "discussions": { "results": [...] }
}

Token Budget Control

Control output size for context (the default command):

Flag	Short alias	Default	Description
`--maximum-number-of-tokens`	`--max-tokens`	8192	Approximate total tokens (1024-32768)
`--maximum-number-of-tokens-per-url`	`--max-tokens-per-url`	4096	Max tokens per URL (512-8192)
`--maximum-number-of-urls`	`--max-urls`	20	Max URLs in response (1-50)
`--maximum-number-of-snippets`	`--max-snippets`	50	Max snippets across all URLs
`--maximum-number-of-snippets-per-url`	`--max-snippets-per-url`	—	Max snippets per URL
`--context-threshold-mode`	`--threshold`	balanced	Relevance: `strict` , `balanced` , `lenient`

bash

bx "topic" --max-tokens 4096 --max-tokens-per-url 1024 --max-urls 5 --threshold strict

Goggles — Custom Ranking

Goggles let you control which sources appear in results. Boost official docs, suppress SEO spam, or build focused search scopes. No other search tool offers this. Supported on

context

web

, and

news

Domain Shortcuts

bash

# Allowlist — only results from these domains
bx "rust axum" --include-site docs.rs --include-site github.com

# Blocklist — exclude specific domains
bx "python tutorial" --exclude-site example.com

--include-site

--exclude-site

, and

--goggles

are mutually exclusive.

Inline Rules

bash

# Boost official docs, demote blog posts
bx "axum middleware tower" \
  --goggles '$boost=5,site=docs.rs
$boost=3,site=github.com
/docs/$boost=5
/blog/$downrank=3' --max-tokens 4096

# Allowlist mode — only include matched sites
bx "Python asyncio patterns" \
  --goggles '$discard
$boost,site=docs.python.org
$boost,site=peps.python.org'

DSL Quick Reference

Rule	Effect	Example
`$boost=N,site=DOMAIN`	Promote domain (N=1-10)	`$boost=3,site=docs.rs`
`$downrank=N,site=DOMAIN`	Demote domain (N=1-10)	`$downrank=5,site=example.com`
`$discard,site=DOMAIN`	Remove domain entirely	`$discard,site=example.com`
`/path/$boost=N`	Boost matching URL paths	`/docs/$boost=5`
Generic `$discard`	Allowlist mode — discard unmatched	`$discard` (as first rule)

Separate rules with newlines. Full DSL: goggles-quickstart.

Piping Rules via Stdin

bash

echo '$boost=5,site=docs.rs
$boost=5,site=crates.io
$boost=3,site=github.com' | bx "axum middleware" --goggles @- --max-tokens 4096

Use

@/path/to/file

to reuse a goggle across queries.

Agent Workflow Examples

Debugging an error:

bash

bx "Python TypeError cannot unpack non-iterable NoneType" --max-tokens 4096

Corrective RAG loop:

bash

# 1. Broad search
bx "axum middleware authentication" --max-tokens 4096
# 2. Too general? Narrow with strict threshold
bx "axum middleware tower layer authentication example" --threshold strict --max-tokens 4096
# 3. Still need synthesis? Ask for an answer
bx answers "how to implement JWT auth middleware in axum" --enable-research

Checking for breaking changes before upgrading:

bash

bx "Next.js 15 breaking changes migration guide" --max-tokens 8192
bx news "Next.js 15 release" --freshness pm

Non-streaming answers for programmatic use:

bash

bx answers "compare SQLx and Diesel for Rust" --no-stream

Answers via stdin (OpenAI-compatible JSON body):

bash

echo '{"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"what are the OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities for web APIs"}]}' | bx answers -

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning	Agent action
0	Success	Process results
1	Client error (bad request)	Fix query/parameters
2	Usage error (bad flags)	Fix CLI arguments
3	Auth/permission error (401/403)	Check API key: `bx config show-key`
4	Rate limited (429)	Retry after delay
5	Server/network error	Retry with backoff

Use Cases

AI agents / coding assistants: One-call web search with token-budgeted, RAG-ready content — replaces search + scrape + extract
Fact-checking: Verify claims against current web content with
```
bx "query" --threshold strict
```
Documentation lookup: Search official docs with
```
--include-site
```
or Goggles domain boosting
Research: Deep multi-source research with
```
bx answers "topic" --enable-research
```
Debugging: Search for error messages and stack traces directly
News monitoring: Track topics with
```
bx news "query" --freshness pd
```
Local search: Find businesses and places with
```
bx places "query" --location "city"
```

Notes

All output is JSON to stdout; errors go to stderr
Global flags:
```
--api-key KEY
```
,
```
--timeout SECS
```
(default 30),
```
--extra KEY=VALUE
```
(repeatable, adds arbitrary API parameters)

Location awareness:

context

and

web

support

--lat

--long

--city

--state

--state-name

--loc-country

--postal-code

--timezone

Research mode:
```
bx answers --enable-research
```
can take up to 5 minutes; set client timeout accordingly
Help:
```
bx --help
```
for all commands;
```
bx <command> --help
```
for per-command flags

bx

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

bx — Brave Search CLI

Quick Start

When to Use Which Command

Commands

Response Shapes

Token Budget Control

Goggles — Custom Ranking

Domain Shortcuts

Inline Rules

DSL Quick Reference

Piping Rules via Stdin

Agent Workflow Examples

Exit Codes

Use Cases

Notes