SearXNG MCP Server

What is SearXNG MCP Server about?

SearXNG MCP Server integrates the public SearXNG search engine into the Model Context Protocol (MCP) ecosystem, allowing AI models and agents to perform web searches, retrieve results with pagination, filter by time, language, and safe‑search settings, and read content from URLs.

How to use SearXNG MCP Server?

Installation – install the server with npx (recommended) or via npm/docker.
Configuration – set the SEARXNG_URL environment variable to point to a SearXNG instance (default http://localhost:8080). Optional basic‑auth credentials can be supplied via AUTH_USERNAME and AUTH_PASSWORD.
MCP Integration – reference the server in your MCP configuration file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json) using the provided command and environment settings.
Running – start the server through the chosen command; it will listen for MCP requests and forward them to the SearXNG API.

Key features of SearXNG MCP Server

Web Search: General queries, news, and articles.
Pagination: Control result pages (pageno).
Time Filtering: day, month, or year ranges.
Language Selection: Specify language codes or all.
Safe Search: Levels 0 (None), 1 (Moderate), 2 (Strict).
URL Content Reading: Convert fetched webpages to markdown.
Flexible Deployment: npm, npx, Docker, or Smithery.
Authentication Support: HTTP Basic Auth for protected SearXNG instances.

Use cases of SearXNG MCP Server

Enabling autonomous agents to gather up‑to‑date information from the web.
Adding searchable knowledge augmentation to LLM chat interfaces.
Building custom research assistants that need filtered, language‑specific results.
Automating content extraction from URLs for downstream processing or summarisation.

FAQ from the SearXNG MCP Server

Q: Which SearXNG instance should I use? A: Choose any public instance from the list of public instances or run your own locally.

Q: Do I need an API key? A: No API key is required; only the SEARXNG_URL is needed. Authentication is optional via basic auth variables.

Q: How do I run the server with Docker? A: Pull the image (docker pull isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest) and configure the command in your MCP config as shown in the README.

Q: Can I change the safe‑search level? A: Yes, set the safesearch input (0, 1, or 2) when invoking the searxng_web_search tool.

Q: How are pagination numbers interpreted? A: pageno starts at 1; each increment retrieves the next page of results.

An MCP server implementation that integrates the SearXNG API, providing web search capabilities.

Features

Web Search: General queries, news, articles, with pagination.
URL Content Reading: Advanced content extraction with pagination, section filtering, and heading extraction.
Intelligent Caching: URL content is cached with TTL (Time-To-Live) to improve performance and reduce redundant requests.
Pagination: Control which page of results to retrieve.
Time Filtering: Filter results by time range (day, month, year).
Language Selection: Filter results by preferred language.
Safe Search: Control content filtering level for search results.

Tools

searxng_web_search
- Execute web searches with pagination
- Inputs:
  - query (string): The search query. This string is passed to external search services.
  - pageno (number, optional): Search page number, starts at 1 (default 1)
  - time_range (string, optional): Filter results by time range - one of: "day", "month", "year" (default: none)
  - language (string, optional): Language code for results (e.g., "en", "fr", "de") or "all" (default: "all")
  - safesearch (number, optional): Safe search filter level (0: None, 1: Moderate, 2: Strict) (default: instance setting)
web_url_read
- Read and convert the content from a URL to markdown with advanced content extraction options
- Inputs:
  - url (string): The URL to fetch and process
  - startChar (number, optional): Starting character position for content extraction (default: 0)
  - maxLength (number, optional): Maximum number of characters to return
  - section (string, optional): Extract content under a specific heading (searches for heading text)
  - paragraphRange (string, optional): Return specific paragraph ranges (e.g., '1-5', '3', '10-')
  - readHeadings (boolean, optional): Return only a list of headings instead of full content

Configuration

Environment Variables

Required

SEARXNG_URL: SearXNG instance URL (default: http://localhost:8080)
- Format: <protocol>://<hostname>[:<port>]
- Example: https://search.example.com

Optional

AUTH_USERNAME / AUTH_PASSWORD: HTTP Basic Auth credentials for password-protected instances
USER_AGENT: Custom User-Agent header (e.g., MyBot/1.0)
HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY: Proxy URLs for routing traffic
- Format: http://[username:password@]proxy.host:port
NO_PROXY: Comma-separated bypass list (e.g., localhost,.internal,example.com)

Installation & Configuration

NPX

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-searxng"],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-searxng"],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "USER_AGENT": "MyBot/1.0",
        "HTTP_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "NO_PROXY": "localhost,127.0.0.1,.local,.internal"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Mix and match environment variables as needed. All optional variables can be used independently or together.

NPM

npm install -g mcp-searxng

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "mcp-searxng",
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "mcp-searxng",
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "USER_AGENT": "MyBot/1.0",
        "HTTP_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "NO_PROXY": "localhost,127.0.0.1,.local,.internal"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

Using Pre-built Image from Docker Hub

docker pull isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "SEARXNG_URL",
        "isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "SEARXNG_URL",
        "-e", "AUTH_USERNAME",
        "-e", "AUTH_PASSWORD",
        "-e", "USER_AGENT",
        "-e", "HTTP_PROXY",
        "-e", "HTTPS_PROXY",
        "-e", "NO_PROXY",
        "isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "USER_AGENT": "MyBot/1.0",
        "HTTP_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
        "NO_PROXY": "localhost,127.0.0.1,.local,.internal"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Add only the -e flags and env variables you need.

Build Locally

docker build -t mcp-searxng:latest -f Dockerfile .

Use the same configuration as above, replacing isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest with mcp-searxng:latest.

Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  mcp-searxng:
    image: isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest
    stdin_open: true
    environment:
      - SEARXNG_URL=YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL
      # Add any optional variables as needed:
      # - AUTH_USERNAME=your_username
      # - AUTH_PASSWORD=your_password
      # - USER_AGENT=MyBot/1.0
      # - HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.company.com:8080
      # - HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.company.com:8080
      # - NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,.local,.internal

Then configure your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker-compose",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "mcp-searxng"]
    }
  }
}

HTTP Transport (Optional)

The server supports both STDIO (default) and HTTP transports. Set MCP_HTTP_PORT to enable HTTP mode.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-http": {
      "command": "mcp-searxng",
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL",
        "MCP_HTTP_PORT": "3000"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP Endpoints:

MCP Protocol: POST/GET/DELETE /mcp
Health Check: GET /health

Testing:

MCP_HTTP_PORT=3000 SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8080 mcp-searxng
curl http://localhost:3000/health

Running evals

SEARXNG_URL=YOUR_URL OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key npx mcp-eval evals.ts src/index.ts

For Developers

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Follow these guidelines:

Coding Standards:

Use TypeScript with strict type safety
Follow existing error handling patterns
Write concise, informative error messages
Include unit tests for new functionality
Maintain 90%+ test coverage
Test with MCP inspector before submitting
Run evals to verify functionality

Workflow:

Fork and clone:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/mcp-searxng.git
cd mcp-searxng
git remote add upstream https://github.com/ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng.git

Setup:

npm install
npm run watch  # Development mode with file watching

Development:

git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
# Make changes in src/
npm run build
npm test
npm run test:coverage
npm run inspector

Submit:

git commit -m "feat: description"
git push origin feature/your-feature-name
# Create PR on GitHub

Testing

npm test                    # Run all tests
npm run test:coverage      # Generate coverage report
npm run test:watch         # Watch mode

Coverage: 100% success rate with comprehensive unit tests covering error handling, types, proxy configs, resources, and logging.

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.

SearXNG MCP Server