ariffazil/brave-search

Brave Search MCP Skill

Trigger

Any task requiring web search, fact-check, person lookup, company research, or general internet lookup.

Credentials

BRAVE_API_KEY — set in /root/.hermes/.env

Get free key: https://brave.com/search/api/ (free tier: 2,000 queries/month)

What it does

• Web search — queries Brave Search engine, returns titles + snippets + URLs
• No hallucination — pulls live results, not cached LLM knowledge
• Preferred over Bing for profile/company research (SignalHire, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn people searches)

Setup (two steps)

Step 1 — Install MCP server

npm install -g @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search
# Note: package is deprecated but still works

Binary installs to /usr/bin/mcp-server-brave-search.

Step 2 — Enable in Hermes toolsets

Add brave-search to toolsets in /root/.hermes/config.yaml:

toolsets:
- hermes-cli
- brave-search   # ← add this

Then restart the Hermes session for tools to appear.

Fallback: Direct API (when MCP not available)

If the MCP tool isn't loaded yet, use curl directly:

BRAVE_KEY=$(grep BRAVE_API_KEY /root/.hermes/.env | sed 's/.*=//')
curl -s -H "Accept: application/json" \
     -H "X-Subscription-Token: $BRAVE_KEY" \
     "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search?q=SEARCH_QUERY&count=10" \
  | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for r in data.get('web', {}).get('results', []):
    print(r.get('title'))
    print(r.get('url'))
    print(r.get('description','')[:200])
    print('---')
"

API Notes

• Free tier: 2,000 queries/month, rate limit: 2 req/sec
• Safe search filtering enabled by default
• count param sets result window (max ~20)
• Works on VPS with no bot detection (unlike Bing/Google)

Cloudflare Email Decode

Many Malaysian sites (malaysianbar.org.my, scoop.my) use Cloudflare email obfuscation. Decode with Python:

def decode_cfemail(hex_str):
    """hex_str: the data-cfemail attribute value."""
    key = int(hex_str[0:2], 16)
    return ''.join(
        chr(int(hex_str[i:i+2], 16) ^ key)
        for i in range(2, len(hex_str)-1, 2)
    )
# Example:
html = '<a href="mailto:[email protected]" data-cfemail="6abc123...">Email</a>'
hex_email = re.search(r'data-cfemail="([^"]+)"', html).group(1)
print(decode_cfemail(hex_email))  # → [email protected]

Known Malaysian Sources (verified 2026-05-07)

| Source | URL | Notes | |--------|-----|-------| | Malaysian Bar Council | malaysianbar.org.my | CF-encoded emails, footer has decoded version | | SUHAKAM | suhakam.org.my | [email protected] | | Big Boom Media | bigboommedia.com.my | enquiry@, corporate@, [email protected] | | Perdana Foundation | perdida.org.my | [email protected] | | WWF Malaysia | wwf.org.my | [email protected] | | Malaysianiakini | malaysiakini.com | [email protected] |

Known gotchas

1. Truncated API key in .env display — grep output may show BSABWb...Qflt (truncated). Always use the full key from the actual file, not from display/output.
2. Deprecated npm package — @modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search shows npm deprecation warning but is still functional. Do NOT wait for replacement — install it and use it.
3. MCP tools not hot-reloadable — adding to toolsets requires session restart. Use curl fallback for immediate results.
4. LinkedIn search indexing — Brave sometimes returns LinkedIn profile URLs without email. Try ZoomInfo or SignalHire result pages.
5. MY sites and Cloudflare — always run CF email decode on any HTML page that returns 200 but shows no emails in plain grep.
6. "R&R" query collision — searching R&R Halal Sadao returns Wikipedia R programming language results because & is parsed as a query operator. Use quotes ("R&R Halal" Sadao) or reformulate: search for R and R Halal Sadao or the Thai name instead.
7. Thai script + transliteration mix — for Malaysian-Thailand border restaurants (Sadao, Dannok, Hat Yai), mixing Thai script terms with English transliteration gives better coverage than English-only queries. E.g., ซีเรียก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ Dannok vs Syria boat noodle Dannok.
8. TikTok as discovery engine — for new local halal restaurants in border areas, TikTok (via Brave search) often surfaces places that don't appear in Google Maps or Tripadvisor yet. Search TikTok for the area name + "halal" to find emerging spots.

Thai Restaurant Research — Rating/Price Extraction Patterns

When researching Thai restaurants, search results often embed ratings and prices in unstructured descriptions. Use this Python parser on Brave Search JSON output:

import re, json

def parse_thai_restaurant_results(data):
    """Parse Brave Search JSON for Thai restaurant metrics."""
    results = data.get('web', {}).get('results', [])
    for r in results:
        title = r.get('title', '')
        desc = r.get('description', '') + ' ' + title
        
        # Rating: "4.6 out of 5" or "4.6/5" in text
        rating_match = re.findall(r'(\d\.\d)\s*(?:out of|/)\s*5', desc)
        
        # Thai price: ฿299, 299 baht, THB299
        price_match = re.findall(r'[\฿£\$]?\s*(\d{3})\s*(?:baht|THB|Bht|บาท)', desc, re.IGNORECASE)
        
        # Halal signal detection
        halal_kw = ['halal', 'ฮาลาล', 'muslim owned', 'islam', 'certified halal', 'all food is halal']
        halal_signal = any(k.lower() in desc.lower() for k in halal_kw)
        
        # Review count: "604 reviews" or "2,192 reviews"
        review_match = re.findall(r'([\d,]+)\s*(?:reviews?|รีวิว)', desc, re.IGNORECASE)
        
        print(f"Rating: {rating_match}")
        print(f"Price ฿: {price_match}")
        print(f"Halal: {halal_signal}")
        print(f"Reviews: {review_match}")

Verified Thai Restaurant Sources (Hat Yai / Southern Thailand)

| Source | URL Pattern | Strength | |--------|-------------|----------| | Restaurant Guru | restaurantguru.com | Reliable numeric ratings + review counts | | Tripadvisor | tripadvisor.com | "All food is Halal" explicit confirmations | | Wanderlog | wanderlog.com | Price per person (฿299), good descriptions | | HaveHalalWillTravel | havehalalwilltravel.com | Halal verification focus | | Wongnai | wongnai.com | Thai-language reviews, but star parsing harder | | Top-Rated.Online | top-rated.online | Price verification (฿299 Thai Baht confirmed) | | TikTok | tiktok.com | Price menus (฿199 buffet), fresh but unverified — best for emerging local spots in border areas | | Wikimapia | wikimapia.org | Halal verification for local spots (e.g., Nurlaila confirmed halal via Wikimapia entry) | | Mustakshif | mustakshif.com | Halal verification status (even if "not verified", shows community declaration + hours) |

Hat Yai / Southern Thailand specific notes

• Khlong Hae area = คลองแห, known for halal seafood buffers
• Central Festival Hat Yai = major mall, 4th floor food court
• Rattakarn Rd = location of Mandarin Suki HQ (Soi 7/3)
• Tripadvisor often shows "All food is Halal" in descriptions — search result snippets confirm this
• Singha Nakorn Hot Pot is in Singhanakhon district (~45 min from Hat Yai proper) — exclude if location is Hat Yai
• In Seoul BBQ (Central Festival) had only 2 Wongnai reviews = rating statistically meaningless (3.2 from 2 reviews)

Best sources for people/company research (in priority order)

1. SignalHire — best for work history, skills, education, contact info (email/phone partial)
2. ZoomInfo — good for company affiliation, often Cloudflare-blocked on scraping
3. LinkedIn — canonical for current role, but limited search indexing
4. Facebook — often outdated for professionals; treat as secondary/confirmation only