Web Search Setup

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This page focuses on one thing: getting Brave web search working in ClawPilot.

If you are unsure which provider to start with, the app currently recommends Brave first.

Short Path

If you just want the fastest path, do this:

1. Open https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/
2. Sign in to the Brave dashboard
3. Subscribe to the Search plan
4. Copy your Brave API key from API Keys
5. Go back to ClawPilot: Settings -> Web Search Settings
6. Open the Gateway you are currently using
7. Turn on Let OpenClaw search the web
8. Choose Brave
9. Paste the API key
10. Keep the mode on Web Results
11. Tap save
12. Go back to chat and send: Find today's most important AI news for me and include source links.

The rest of this page explains those steps briefly.

1. Get a Brave API Key First

• Dashboard: https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/
• Quickstart: https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/quickstart
• Pricing: https://brave.com/search/api/

The flow is simple:

1. Sign in to the Brave dashboard
2. Open Plans or Subscriptions
3. Subscribe to the Search plan
4. Open API Keys
5. Create a new key or copy an existing one

Note: checked on 2026-03-17, Brave's current Quickstart and pricing page show a Search plan and a free tier with $5 monthly API credits.
If you see older labels such as Data for AI in older articles, follow the current dashboard wording in your own account.

After you get the key, go straight back to ClawPilot and paste it there.

Brave's auth docs mention X-Subscription-Token. In ClawPilot you do not enter that header manually. You only paste the API key into the app.

2. Fill the Fields in ClawPilot

Go back to:

Settings -> Web Search Settings

Then do this in order.

1) Turn web search on

Turn on Let OpenClaw search the web.

2) Pick Brave

The current app supports these providers:

• Brave
• Gemini
• Grok
• Kimi
• Perplexity

There is no OpenAI option here. The current app does not support OpenAI as a direct web search provider.

3) Paste the Brave API key

Paste the key into the API key field.

Current save rules:

• The key is required the first time you enable Brave.
• If the server already has a Brave key, you can leave the field blank and keep the existing key.
• If you just switched from another provider to Brave, you need to paste the Brave key again.
• If you are only turning web search off, the key is not required.

4) Choose the Brave mode

The app currently offers:

• Web Results
• LLM Context

Recommended default:

• start with Web Results
• use LLM Context only when you clearly need deeper page context

5) What this page actually asks for

For the current Brave path in ClawPilot, there are only four things to care about:

1. Turn on Let OpenClaw search the web
2. Pick Brave
3. Paste the API key
4. Choose a Brave mode if needed

You do not need to enter a custom base URL, endpoint, search engine ID, OpenAI model, or manual auth headers.

If Brave was already configured on the server, the input may still look empty because the server returns a redacted value. That does not mean the key was lost.

3. Test It After Saving

Go back to chat and send something easy to verify, for example:

Find today's most important AI news for me and include source links.

If web search is working, you will usually notice:

• the answer references current web information
• source links or site names appear
• the result is more current than a memory-only answer

4. Most Common Failure Points

1) No Gateway selected

This page edits the current Gateway config. It is not a global setting.

2) The Gateway is disconnected

If the target Gateway is not connected, save usually fails.

3) You switched to Brave without pasting a key

Switching providers to Brave requires a Brave key.

4) The field looks empty even though the server still has a key

This can happen because the server returns a redacted value.

5) Save succeeded, but search still does not work

This is often a server policy problem rather than a Brave key problem. Typical causes:

• the current server profile still blocks web search by default
• tools.deny explicitly blocks web_search

6) The Brave dashboard works, but requests still fail

Check these first:

• the API key is still valid
• the Brave plan subscription finished successfully
• free credits are not exhausted
• you are not following an old plan name instead of the current dashboard wording

Sources

• Brave Search API Quickstart: https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/quickstart
• Brave Search API Authentication: https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/documentation/authentication
• Brave Search API Pricing: https://brave.com/search/api/

Checked on 2026-03-17