Suggest / Autocomplete

Name: suggest
Rating: 88
Author: brave

Requires API Key: Get one at https://api.search.brave.com

Plan: Included in the Suggest plan. See https://api.search.brave.com/app/subscriptions

Quick Start (cURL)

Basic Suggestions

bash

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/suggest/search?q=how+to+" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

With All Parameters

bash

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/suggest/search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "q=albert" \
  --data-urlencode "country=US" \
  --data-urlencode "lang=en" \
  --data-urlencode "count=10" \
  --data-urlencode "rich=true"

Endpoint

http

GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/suggest/search

Authentication: X-Subscription-Token: <API_KEY> header

Optional Headers:

•Accept-Encoding: gzip — Enable response compression

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`q`	string	Yes	—	Suggest search query (1-400 chars, max 50 words)
`lang`	string	No	`en`	Language preference (2+ char language code, e.g. `fr`, `de`, `zh-hans`)
`country`	string	No	`US`	Search country (2-letter country code or `ALL`)
`count`	int	No	`5`	Number of suggestions (1-20). Actual results may be fewer
`rich`	bool	No	`false`	Enhance with entity info (title, description, image). Paid Search plan required

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`type`	string	Always `"suggest"`
`query.original`	string	The original suggest search query
`results`	array	List of suggestions (may be empty)
`results[].query`	string	Suggested query completion
`results[].is_entity`	bool?	Whether the suggested enriched query is an entity (rich only)
`results[].title`	string?	The suggested query enriched title (rich only)
`results[].description`	string?	The suggested query enriched description (rich only)
`results[].img`	string?	The suggested query enriched image URL (rich only)

Fields with null values are excluded from the response. Non-rich results contain only the query field.

Rich Response Example (`rich=true`)

json

{
  "type": "suggest",
  "query": { "original": "albert" },
  "results": [
    {
      "query": "albert einstein",
      "is_entity": true,
      "title": "Albert Einstein",
      "description": "German-born theoretical physicist",
      "img": "https://imgs.search.brave.com/..."
    },
    { "query": "albert einstein quotes", "is_entity": false }
  ]
}

Use Cases

•Search-as-you-type UI: Real-time autocomplete dropdown. Debounce 150-300ms.
•Query refinement for RAG: Expand partial/ambiguous queries before calling web-search or llm-context.
•Entity detection: Use rich=true to detect entities with title, description, and image for preview cards.
•Typo-tolerant input: Get clean suggestions from misspelled input without separate spellcheck.

Notes

•Latency: Designed for <100ms response times
•Country/lang: Hints for suggestion relevance, not strict filters
•Typo handling: Suggestions handle common typos without separate spellcheck