BRAVE PUT CURIOSITY ON A METER

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The story, straight

A search API lets software ask a search engine for results. An AI agent is software that can take steps for you, including looking things up.

On 12 November 2026, Brave announced that agents can pay for supported Search API requests individually through x402, a payment method built into web requests. Today's price is $0.005 per request: $5 per 1,000.

Not unlimited searches. Each request gets its own bill.

Send a request without payment and Brave returns HTTP 402 Payment Required, with the price and payment instructions. The agent signs a payment, retries, and gets results plus a transaction receipt after verification.

Imagine a search bar with a parking meter. Lil'meme is feeding it while the receipts wrap him like a financially responsible mummy.

Payment currently uses USDC, a digital token designed to track the US dollar, on Base, the network recording the transaction. Other networks and stablecoins are promised, not live.

Brave covers network transaction fees for a limited time.

The listed $0.005 endpoints cover web, news, image, video and local search, plus LLM Context, which supplies search material for AI responses. This is developer access, not a charge on every ordinary Brave search.

The useful change: supported requests need no Brave account or API key, the access code software normally supplies. Developers can fund an agent's wallet instead.

Curiosity didn't kill this rocket. It asked him to tap again.

Source: https://brave.com/blog/search-api-agentic-payments/

Repost before my next question needs petty cash.

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