> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.adcontextprotocol.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# search_brands

> Discover brands on a brand agent's roster before retrieving identity or rights details.

`search_brands` is an experimental, read-only discovery task. It returns ranked public brand stubs from a brand agent's roster. Use the returned `brand_id` with [`get_brand_identity`](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.0/brand-protocol/tasks/get_brand_identity) for full identity data or [`get_rights`](/dist/docs/3.2.0-beta.0/brand-protocol/tasks/get_rights) for licensing terms.

## Schema

* **Request**: [`search-brands-request.json`](https://adcontextprotocol.org/schemas/3.2.0-beta.0/brand/search-brands-request.json)
* **Response**: [`search-brands-response.json`](https://adcontextprotocol.org/schemas/3.2.0-beta.0/brand/search-brands-response.json)

## Request

```json theme={null}
{
  "query": "automotive brands with electric vehicles",
  "countries": ["US"],
  "pagination": { "max_results": 20 },
  "context": { "correlation_id": "brand-search-001" }
}
```

`query` is required. Callers can additionally constrain results with `industries`, `countries`, or `buyer_brand`. When `buyer_brand` is supplied, the agent should omit brands whose licensing restrictions make them incompatible.

## Response

```json theme={null}
{
  "brands": [
    {
      "brand_id": "nova_motors",
      "house": {
        "domain": "novamotors.example",
        "name": "Nova Motors"
      },
      "relationship_trust": "mutual",
      "relationship_verified_at": "2026-08-15T12:00:00Z",
      "names": [{ "en-US": "Nova Motors" }],
      "description": "Electric mobility and vehicle technology",
      "industries": ["automotive"],
      "keller_type": "master",
      "rights": {
        "available_uses": ["commercial"],
        "countries": ["US"]
      }
    }
  ],
  "context": { "correlation_id": "brand-search-001" }
}
```

An empty `brands` array is a successful response when no roster entry matches. Results are lightweight public stubs; authorized assets, detailed identity fields, and pricing remain on the follow-up tasks.

## Fields

| Field         | Required | Description                                     |
| ------------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| `query`       | Yes      | Natural-language search, up to 2,000 characters |
| `industries`  | No       | Advertiser-industry filters                     |
| `countries`   | No       | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 market filters               |
| `buyer_brand` | No       | Buyer brand used for compatibility filtering    |
| `pagination`  | No       | Page size and continuation cursor               |

Each result includes `brand_id` and localized `names`; `house` is present when a house affiliation is on record. `relationship_trust` reports whether that affiliation is reciprocated: only `mutual` and `inline` extend trust to `house.domain`. `leaf_only`, `house_only`, and `unverifiable` are one-sided or unverified states, while `standalone` means the brand declares no house. A missing `relationship_trust` means the agent has not computed a verdict and MUST NOT be interpreted as `standalone`. `claimed_house_domain` preserves a leaf's unverified parent claim, and `relationship_verified_at` records the last bilateral confirmation for `mutual` results.

Other public discovery fields such as description, industries, logos, architecture type, and rights availability are optional.