Do coding agents recommend Brave Search API?
Brave Search API was chosen in 14% of 639 judged AI search sessions, ranking second. Measured with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build CLI and Muse Code.
Brave Search API was chosen in 14% of 639 judged AI search sessions, ranking second. It was also raised as a candidate in 122 further sessions without being chosen.
This page reports what happened when Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build CLI and Muse Code had to solve a problem in AI search inside a realistic codebase. Not what a chat assistant says about Brave Search API. What an agent actually installed.
The numbers
| Category | AI search |
| Sessions in the category | 639 |
| Sessions where Brave Search API was chosen | 89 |
| Install share | 14% |
| Rank in category | 2 of 42 |
| Codebases it won in | 11 |
| Raised as a candidate, not chosen | 122 |
| Chosen when considered | 42% |
| Site | brave.com |
By agent
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build CLI and Muse Code agree closely on Brave Search API, choosing it at rates within 5 points of each other.
| Agent | Sessions | Chose Brave Search API | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | 140 | 17 | 12% |
| Codex | 192 | 28 | 15% |
| Cursor | 136 | 18 | 13% |
| Grok Build CLI | 35 | 6 | 17% |
| Muse Code | 136 | 20 | 15% |
By who was asking
Brave Search API does much better with one kind of buyer than another. It won 26% of sessions asked as enterprise team and 5% of those asked as vibe coder.
| Who is asking | Sessions | Chose Brave Search API | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vibe coder | 106 | 5 | 5% |
| Junior developer | 208 | 27 | 13% |
| Senior engineer | 157 | 14 | 9% |
| Enterprise team | 168 | 43 | 26% |
What Brave Search API was up against
The full ranking in AI search, from the same sessions:
| # | Product | Runs won | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exa | 92 | 14% |
| 2 | Brave Search API (this page) | 89 | 14% |
| 3 | Anthropic web search | 86 | 13% |
| 4 | Tavily | 79 | 12% |
| 5 | OpenAI web search | 32 | 5% |
| 6 | Built in-house (no product adopted) | 32 | 5% |
| 7 | Firecrawl | 31 | 5% |
| 8 | Parallel | 29 | 5% |
What this means
Brave Search API was raised in 122 sessions and chosen in 89. That ratio is balanced enough that the ceiling is presence rather than integration: the product converts reasonably when it is on the table, and it is not on the table often enough.
Where these numbers come from
The 639 sessions in AI search are part of a published set of 15,051, run with real coding agents inside realistic codebases and judged blind. The full method is on one page: how we measured this.
Every AI search run can be replayed on the board.
If you work on Brave Search API: the judge recorded a reason for every session where it was raised and passed over. Those reasons are in the transcripts.
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Common questions
Do coding agents recommend Brave Search API?
Yes. Brave Search API was chosen in 89 of the 639 judged sessions in AI search, a 14% install share, ranking second in its category.
Does Claude Code recommend Brave Search API?
In 17 of the 140 sessions in AI search run with Claude Code, which is 12%.
Do different coding agents treat Brave Search API differently?
Not much. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build CLI and Muse Code chose it at similar rates, between 12% and 17% of their runs.
How was this measured?
Real coding agents at pinned versions were run in sandboxes inside 92 realistic codebases and asked to solve real tasks. A simulated project owner approved or questioned each recommendation before any code was written, and a judge from a model family that builds none of the agents read every session blind.
How often is Brave Search API considered but not chosen?
It was raised as a candidate in 122 sessions without being chosen, and chosen in 89. That is a 42% conversion from considered to chosen.
Where this comes from
Armature ran 15,051 judged sessions with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build CLI and Muse Code inside 92 realistic codebases, and published every run. The numbers on this page come from that work.