bsearch - Brave Search CLI

A simple command-line tool for performing web searches using the Brave Search API from your terminal.

Features

• Fast web searches directly from your terminal
• Clean, text-based output (5 results per search)
• Minimal dependencies (only commander)
• Works with npx - no global install needed
• Korean and special characters supported

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or higher
• Brave Search API key (Get one here)

Installation

npm install -g brave-search-cli

Or use directly with npx (no installation required):

npx brave-search-cli "your search query"

Setup

Set your Brave Search API key as an environment variable:

export BRAVE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Add to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) for persistence:

echo 'export BRAVE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"' >> ~/.zshrc

Usage

Using npx

# Basic search
npx brave-search-cli "hello world"

# Korean and special characters supported
npx brave-search-cli "대한민국 날씨"

# Show help
npx brave-search-cli --help

# Show version
npx brave-search-cli --version

After global install

# Basic search
bsearch "hello world"

# Korean and special characters supported
bsearch "대한민국 날씨"

# Show help
bsearch --help

# Show version
bsearch --version

# Running without arguments also shows help
bsearch

Output Format

Found 5 results for "hello world":

1. "Hello, World!" program - Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Hello,_World!%22_program
   A "Hello, World!" program is usually a simple computer program...

2. Hello World
   https://code.org/helloworld
   Hello World is a great starting point...
...

Error Handling

• Missing API key: Exits with code 1
• API errors (401, 429, etc.): Outputs error message to stderr, exits with code 1
• No results: Displays "No search results found"

Troubleshooting

"API key not found"

• Make sure BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable is set
• Check that the key is correctly exported in your current shell session

"No results found"

• Try a different search query
• Check your internet connection

License

MIT

Version

0.2.1