web-search

name	Web Search
description	Quick web scanning — discover pages, get snippets, find URLs. For orientation only, not substantive analysis.
type	sop
layer	sop
tools	{"brave-search":["brave_web_search","brave_news_search","brave_video_search","brave_image_search","brave_local_search","brave_summarizer"]}
input	query (string)
output	SearchResult[] with title, URL, snippet, date

Web Search SOP

Layer Rules

• Layer: sop — wraps MCP tools directly
• Called by: Any tactic or strategy requiring quick web orientation
• Calls: brave-search MCP tools (never calls other SOPs)

Purpose

Fast orientation search. Understand what pages and sources exist on a topic. Suitable for quick fact-checking, getting an overview of a landscape, or finding URLs for deeper research via web-research.

Use this when you need to:

• Find what pages exist on a topic
• Get a rough overview of available information
• Discover URLs for deeper research (via web-research)
• Quick fact-check with snippet-level confidence
• Monitor recent news on a topic

This skill returns snippets only. For full-page content analysis, use web-research.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Returns
brave_web_search	General web search	URL, title, description snippet
brave_news_search	Recent news articles	URL, title, snippet, date
brave_video_search	Video content discovery	URL, title, description, duration
brave_image_search	Image search	URL, title, image properties
brave_local_search	Local businesses/places	Name, address, rating, hours
brave_summarizer	AI-generated summary (Pro only)	Summarized text with references

HARD-GATE

**brave-search returns snippets only (1-3 sentences per result).**

Snippets are NOT authoritative content. They are orientation signals.

PROHIBITED:

• Drawing substantive conclusions from snippets alone
• Treating snippet content as verified facts
• Completing a research task using only search results
• Presenting snippet summaries as thorough analysis

REQUIRED:

• Label all results as "snippets for orientation"
• For any analysis requiring full content, escalate to web-research
• Make clear to the user that snippets provide direction, not answers

Workflow

Step 1: Formulate Query

• Use specific, targeted keywords
• Consider freshness filter: pd (24h), pw (7d), pm (31d), py (365d)
• Consider count parameter: 5-20 results (default 10)
• For news: use brave_news_search instead of brave_web_search
• For location-based: use brave_local_search

Step 2: Execute Search

General web search:

brave_web_search(query="your search terms", count=10)

News search (time-sensitive topics):

brave_news_search(query="topic", freshness="pw", count=10)

Video search:

brave_video_search(query="topic", count=10)

Image search:

brave_image_search(query="topic", count=20)

Local search:

brave_local_search(query="restaurants near me", count=5)

Step 3: Return Structured Results

For each result, present:

• Title — page title
• URL — full URL (for reference or escalation to web-research)
• Snippet — 1-3 sentence description (orientation only, not authoritative)
• Date — when available (especially for news)

Tool-Specific Notes

brave_web_search

• query (required): search terms, max 400 chars
• count: 1-20 results (default 10)
• offset: pagination, 0-9 (default 0)
• freshness: time filter — pd (24h), pw (7d), pm (31d), py (365d), or date range YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD
• safesearch: off / moderate / strict (default moderate)
• search_lang: language code (default en)
• country: 2-letter country code (default US)
• result_filter: array of types to include (web, news, videos, etc.)

brave_news_search

• Same core parameters as web search
• Better for time-sensitive queries
• Returns publication dates
• Default freshness: pd (last 24 hours)

brave_video_search

• Returns duration and thumbnail_url in addition to standard fields
• Good for tutorial/educational content discovery

brave_image_search

• count: 1-200 results (default 50)
• Returns image properties (URL, dimensions)
• Good for visual content discovery

brave_local_search

• Best for "near me" or location-specific queries
• Returns: business name, address, rating, review count, phone, hours
• Falls back to web search if no local results found

brave_summarizer

• Requires Pro plan
• Must first run brave_web_search with summary=true
• Returns AI-generated summary with optional inline references

Examples

Quick fact check:

brave_web_search(query="Claude 3.5 Sonnet release date", count=5)

News monitoring:

brave_news_search(query="transformer architecture breakthroughs", freshness="pm", count=10)

Landscape scan:

brave_web_search(query="MCP server frameworks comparison 2025", count=15)

Finding documentation:

brave_web_search(query="anthropic claude API tool use documentation", count=5)

Video tutorials:

brave_video_search(query="how to build MCP server tutorial", count=10)