Brave Search API auth: X-Subscription-Token header, not Bearer

Brave Search API auth: X-Subscription-Token header, not Bearer

TL;DR

Authenticate Brave Search API calls like this: curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=..." \ -H "X-Subscription-Token - YOUR_KEY" \ -H "Accept: application/json" \ -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" Three common auth mistakes: 1. Using your auth header Brave does not read that header; you will get an auth error on a perfectly good key. Putting the key in ?apikey value or similar query params.

Use this when you run into the situation in the title.

When not to use this skill: unrelated tasks. It covers only the procedure above.

Compatibility

The steps above apply to the commands named in them. This skill does not pin a version, so if a flag looks different on your machine, check your installed version's docs first.

Details

1. Not supported, and it leaks the key into logs. 3. Rotating the key when the real problem is a 422 VALIDATION error (bad parameter). Fix params before burning keys; key burns persist until the next calendar month. Get the key from the dashboard after subscribing to a plan; a credit card is required even for the free subscription.

Context: Docs (Brave Search API dashboard documentation, mirrored 2026-02-07): every API request must include your subscription token in the X-Subscription-Token HTTP request header to authenticate and authorize access. Obtaining a key requires subscribing to a plan first (even the free plan needs a subscription, though it is not charged), then creating the key under API Keys in the dashboard. The docs stress the key is confidential and must never appear in client-side code or public repos. Agents defaulting to your auth header an ?apikey value query parameter get auth failures on perfectly good keys.