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Brave Search n8n integrationAutomate Brave Search with n8n.

Need live web results inside a workflow? The Brave Search n8n integration adds 8 search operations on a single resource, from web and news results to places and LLM context. There is no trigger node, so a Schedule Trigger or a Webhook starts the run.

Community node This node is not shipped with n8n: it is a community package (@brave/n8n-nodes-brave-search) you install from Settings › Community nodes on a self-hosted instance. npm

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Why automate

What does the Brave Search n8n integration actually cover?

Once the package is in place, the node exposes one resource and 8 operations. Each one takes a query and returns structured items that the next node in the workflow can read, from a plain web search to news, images, videos, places, spelling checks, query suggestions and LLM context, all through the same credential.

A weekly competitor watch. A Schedule Trigger fires every Monday morning, the node runs default.news with a brand name as the query and Freshness set to pw, and every headline lands as a row in Google Sheets with its link. Nobody opens a browser tab to check what was published.

Enrichment before outreach. A list of company names arrives from a form, default.web looks each one up, and the first result feeds a short note posted to Slack so the sales channel sees the context before the call. The same run can push the summary into a Notion page when the account is worth a longer write-up.

Grounding an AI answer. default.llm_context returns pre-extracted web content sized for a model, which is the piece most RAG pipelines end up writing by hand. The workflow passes that context to the model, then stores the answer and its sources.

Reach for the HTTP Request node when Brave exposes an endpoint this node does not. HTTP Request calls any endpoint of the API and reuses the same credential through predefined authentication, so nothing needs to be re-entered.

Known limits are worth reading before you build. There is no Brave Search trigger, so every workflow starts somewhere else. Result counts differ per operation: 20 for a web search, 50 for news and videos, 200 for images. A few options depend on the plan attached to the key, such as Extra Snippets. And because the package is a community node, a self-hosted n8n is the safe assumption. Our n8n review covers how the platform itself holds up, and the n8n training goes through workflow building step by step.

Connect

How do you install and connect Brave Search in n8n?

  1. 01

    Install the community package

    Open Settings, then Community nodes, and install @brave/n8n-nodes-brave-search in version 1.1.8. This step happens on a self-hosted instance, whether n8n runs through Docker or npm. On n8n Cloud, the hosted offer run by n8n, only verified community nodes can be installed, so check that status first. n8n charges nothing for the node itself.

  2. 02

    Create the Brave Search credential

    Go to the Credentials menu and add a Brave Search credential. A credential is created once and reused across every workflow, so this is a one-time step even if ten workflows end up searching. The values come from the Brave Search API dashboard documentation. Once saved, the credential appears in the node's dropdown and you pick it there.

  3. 03

    Run a first search

    Add the Brave Search node to a canvas, select the Search the Web operation, and type a term in Query. Required fields block the node when left empty, so Query has to hold something. Execute the node on its own, read the items it returns, and only then wire the rest of the workflow to the fields you actually need.

Actions

What can the Brave Search node do?

The Brave Search node exposes 8 operations. For each one: the node as you configure it in n8n, the required fields, and our field notes.

01

Search the Web

web

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Runs a standard web search on the Brave index and returns the result list for the query, ready to loop over in the next node.

Key parameters

  • Query: required, the search term, capped at 400 characters and 50 words, often {{ $json.query }} when it comes from a previous node.
  • Count: how many results come back, between 1 and 20. Combine it with Offset to walk through further pages.
  • Result Filter: restricts the response to the types you want, such as news, videos or discussions. Left empty, every available type comes back.
Use cases
checking which pages already rank for a term before a content sprint.
02

Search for News

news

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Same query, narrower index: this operation returns news coverage instead of the whole web, with a much higher result ceiling.

Key parameters

  • Query: required, the term being monitored, with the same ceiling of 400 characters and 50 words.
  • Count: the number of news results in the response, up to 50. Fewer may come back than requested.
  • Freshness: filters by when results were discovered, from pd for the past 24 hours to py for the past year.
Use cases
a morning digest of everything published about a client since yesterday.
03

Search for Images

images

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Returns image results for a term, with the largest result ceiling of any operation on this node.

Key parameters

  • Count: the number of image results, up to 200 in a single call, though the response can be shorter.
  • Safe Search: only two levels here, off and strict, unlike the three offered by the web search.
  • Language: the search language preference, which changes which sources the images are pulled from.
Use cases
collecting visual references for a moodboard, then filing the URLs somewhere the design team reads.
04

Search for Videos

videos

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Video results for a query, with the metadata that lets a workflow decide which ones deserve a human look.

Key parameters

  • Count: the number of video results, up to 50, paired with Offset when one page is not enough.
  • Freshness: the same discovery window as the news search, useful to keep only clips from the past 7 days with pw.
  • User Interface Language: sets the response language, for instance en-GB rather than en-US.
Use cases
tracking video coverage of a product launch across the first week.
06

Check Spelling of a Query

spellcheck

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Takes a term and checks its spelling, which is the cheapest way to stop a typo from ruining a downstream search.

Key parameters

  • Query: required, the term to check, with the usual limit of 400 characters and 50 words.
  • Country: an associated country code used as a hint, defaulting to US.
  • Language: an associated language code of two or more characters, defaulting to English.
Use cases
cleaning search terms typed into a public form before they reach the web search operation.
07

Get Suggestions for a Query

suggest

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Expands a seed term into the queries people actually type around it, returned as a short list.

Key parameters

  • Query: required, the seed term, with a maximum length of 400 characters and a word limit of 50.
  • Count: the number of suggestions, minimum 1, maximum 20, default 5.
  • Rich Results: enhances suggestions with richer data, and requires a paid Suggest subscription.
Use cases
feeding an SEO brief with the variations around a head term instead of guessing them in a meeting.
08

Get LLM Context

llm_context

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Returns pre-extracted web content shaped for AI agents, LLM grounding and RAG pipelines, so the workflow skips the fetch-and-clean step entirely.

Key parameters

  • Maximum Number of Tokens: the approximate size of the context, default 8192 and maximum 32768.
  • Maximum Number of Snippets: how many chunks of text land in the context, default 50 and maximum 256.
  • Context Threshold Mode: how strict the inclusion bar is, from disabled to strict.
Use cases
grounding an answer bot on current pages rather than on what the model memorized.
Need help

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FAQ

Brave Search and n8n: common questions

01Is the Brave Search n8n integration free?
On the n8n side, yes. The node costs nothing, and installing it costs nothing either. What you need to know is that Brave Search is a community node: it does not ship with n8n, so you install the npm package @brave/n8n-nodes-brave-search from Settings, then Community nodes, on a self-hosted instance running through Docker or npm. n8n Cloud, the hosted offer run by n8n, only accepts verified community nodes, so check that status before counting on it there. A workflow behaves the same way on both. What Brave charges for the search API itself is a separate question and not covered here.
02What credentials do you need for Brave Search in n8n?
One Brave Search credential, created once from the Credentials menu in n8n and reused across every workflow that searches. The node offers it in its own dropdown, so you never retype anything once it is saved. The reference for what goes in it is the Brave Search API dashboard documentation. Two practical notes. First, the credential is separate from the package install: installing the community node does not authenticate anything. Second, the same credential carries over to an HTTP Request node through predefined authentication, which matters as soon as you call an endpoint the dedicated node does not cover.
03What are the limits of the Brave Search node in n8n?
Three worth planning around. Result ceilings differ per operation: 20 results for a web search, 50 for news and videos, 200 for images, and pagination runs through Count combined with Offset rather than a single toggle. Every query is capped at 400 characters and 50 words, and an empty required Query stops the node. Some options depend on the plan behind the key, Extra Snippets and Rich Results among them. When Brave exposes an endpoint the node has no operation for, the HTTP Request node calls it directly and reuses the same credential, which is the usual way out.
04Does Brave Search react in real time in n8n?
No, and not because of a delay. Brave Search has no trigger node in n8n at all, so nothing on the Brave side can start a workflow. You choose the starting point instead. A Schedule Trigger runs the search at a fixed interval, which fits monitoring and digests. An n8n Webhook, meaning a URL that a third-party service calls, starts the run when something happens elsewhere. Or another tool's trigger starts it, for example a new row or a new message, and the Brave Search node then enriches whatever came in. The search itself runs when the workflow reaches the node.
05n8n or Make for Brave Search?
It depends on four things, and price is only one of them. Hosting: n8n can be self-hosted through Docker or npm, or used on n8n Cloud, while Make is hosted only. That difference matters here more than usual, because a community node installs from Settings on a self-hosted instance and n8n Cloud accepts only verified ones. Data control follows from hosting: self-hosting keeps search queries and results on your own infrastructure. Cost model: Make bills per operation, which adds up when a workflow loops over search results. Visual logic differs too, so try both on one real workflow.