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Migrate from Google Custom Search JSON API to Brave Search API: the eight lines that break
Eight Brave Search API fixes: that is what one 20-line Google Custom Search helper, the kind a developer wires into a RAG agent or a site-search box, needed before it could run on Brave. Five were errors that return wrong or empty results, three were warnings that silently drop a filter.
Why now. Google's Custom Search JSON API overview says it plainly: "The Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers. Existing Custom Search JSON API customers have until January 1, 2027 to transition to an alternative solution." Microsoft already retired the Bing Search APIs on 2025-08-11, so the usual fallback is gone too.
What a URL swap misses. Changing https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1 to https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search looks like the whole job. It is one line of eight. On the sample file search.js the check reported:
- key: GOOGLE_KEY in the query string. Brave reads the key only from the X-Subscription-Token header.
- cx: ENGINE. Brave has no Programmable Search Engine ID; the sites inside that engine move into q as site: operators or into a Goggle.
- start: String(page * 10 + 1). Google's start is a 1-based result index. Brave's offset is a 0-based page index with a maximum of 9. The fix is offset = Math.floor((start - 1) / count), which for this file is simply offset: String(page).
- dateRestrict: 'm6'. Brave's freshness takes pd, pw, pm, py or a range like 2026-03-29to2026-09-29.
- siteSearch: 'docs.example.com'. No such Brave parameter; it becomes site:docs.example.com in q.
- The endpoint itself.
- data.items. A Brave response has no items key; results live in data.web.results.
- it.link and it.snippet. Brave results carry url and description.
None of these throw at the call. The request succeeds, the agent gets an empty list or page 2 fails, and the bug shows up in answers rather than in logs.
The page-2 trap. This is the one to check first. A find-and-replace that keeps Google's paging turns start=11 into offset=11. Brave's reference caps offset at 9, because it counts pages, not results. A half-migrated file with offset '11' produces exactly one finding in the check, and it is the one that breaks your second page.
Bing code has its own list. An 8-line Python newsletter bot on Bing v7 gave 6 findings: the retired endpoint, the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header, count: 50 (Brave caps count at 20), mkt: en-GB (split into country and search_lang), freshness: Week (pw), and data["webPages"]["value"] (web.results).
How the check works. It is a VS Code extension and a free web page that share one engine with 19 rules. Endpoint and header rules run on every JavaScript, TypeScript or Python file; parameter and response rules only run in files that reference a search endpoint, so a start: in your router config stays quiet. Each finding prints the Brave line to write. The migrated search.js gives 0 findings.
Doing it by hand. The US median pay for software developers is $64.44 an hour (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). The work is reading every search helper, mapping each parameter and fixing response parsing, file by file.
Free and full. The free extension and the web page check the open file completely, with every rule and every rewrite. The full version adds a workspace-wide scan and one exportable migration report for the whole repository, for a team or a pull request. Paste your own search helper into the web page first and read the answer before you decide anything.
15 seconds — what it actually does
Questions people ask
What does Brave Search API Migration Check do?
It reads JavaScript, TypeScript and Python files and flags every line that still uses the Google Custom Search JSON API or the retired Bing Search API v7: endpoints, key headers, cx, start, dateRestrict, siteSearch, safe, lr/gl/mkt, items, link and snippet. Each finding prints the Brave Search API replacement, such as offset = floor((start-1)/count) or web.results instead of items. It runs 19 rules.
Who is the Brave Search API migration check for?
Developers whose app, RAG agent, chatbot or site search calls the Google Custom Search JSON API, which Google closed to new customers and gives existing customers until January 1, 2027 to leave, and teams still carrying Bing Search API v7 code after Microsoft retired it on 2025-08-11. It suits anyone moving that code to the Brave Search API.
Why not just swap the endpoint URL or ask a chatbot?
Swapping the URL leaves Google's parameter meanings in place. Google's start is a 1-based result index; Brave's offset is a 0-based page index with a maximum of 9, so start=11 passed through breaks page 2. The cx engine ID, dateRestrict, siteSearch and the items/link/snippet response fields also have no same-name Brave twin, and nothing fails at the call itself.
What is free and what does the full version add?
Free: the open file is checked completely, every line against all 19 rules, each with its Brave rewrite, with no limit on use and no key. The full version, one payment for one licence key, adds a workspace-wide scan and an exportable migration report covering the whole repository, ready to hand to a team or attach to the pull request.
What does doing this migration audit by hand cost?
The US median pay for software developers is $64.44 an hour according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. A manual audit means reading each search helper, mapping every Google or Bing parameter to its Brave equivalent and fixing the response parsing. On the bundled 20-line sample file the check lists 8 findings: 5 errors and 3 warnings.
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