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SearXNG HTTP MCP

Self-contained SearXNG metasearch MCP server. One Docker image, 200+ engines, privacy-first.

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Quick Start · Features · Architecture · Comparison · Usage · MCP Tools · Client Config · Plugin · Contributing

A self-contained MCP server that wraps SearXNG — a free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from 200+ search engines.

🚀 Quick Start

Server mode — deploy once, connect from any client:

docker run -d --name searxng-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p YOUR_PORT:8888 --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest

Then connect your client to http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/. To enable API key auth, see Authentication.

Local mode — no server needed, run directly in your client:

docker run --rm -i --memory=512m --cpus=1 ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest --stdio

Add this as a stdio MCP server in your client — see Client Configuration for details.

✨ Features

Search

🔍 200+ search engines — Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave, and more via SearXNG
📂 30+ categories — news, images, videos, science, IT, and more
📄 Multi-page fanout — up to 5 pages per call
💡 Autocomplete suggestions — discover relevant search terms
🗂 Engine discovery — query available engines grouped by category
🎯 Token-efficient — results trimmed to essentials

Infrastructure

📦 Self-contained — SearXNG built into Docker image
🔄 Dual transport — HTTP (Streamable HTTP) and stdio
🔐 Authentication — x-api-key + HTTP Basic Auth
🌐 Reverse proxy — SearXNG Web UI on the same port
⚡ Dynamic tool descriptions — live category lists injected at startup
📐 Rich JSON Schema — enum constraints, range limits, and descriptions on every parameter
🧩 Claude Code Plugin — self-hosted marketplace

🏛 Architecture

graph LR
  Client(["client:YOUR_PORT"]) --> Expose(":8888")

  subgraph Container["🐳 Docker Container"]
    direction LR
    Expose --> Auth{Auth}
    Auth -->|/mcp| MCP[FastMCP Server]
    Auth -->|/*| Proxy[Reverse Proxy]
    MCP --> SearXNG[SearXNG :8080]
    Proxy --> SearXNG
  end

  style Expose fill:none,stroke:#2496ed,stroke-dasharray:5 5,color:#2496ed

  style Client fill:#4a90d9,color:#fff,stroke:#3a7bc8
  style Container fill:#f0f4f8,stroke:#2496ed,stroke-width:2px,color:#2496ed
  style Auth fill:#f5a623,color:#fff,stroke:#d4900e
  style MCP fill:#50c878,color:#fff,stroke:#3da85e
  style Proxy fill:#9b59b6,color:#fff,stroke:#8344a5
  style SearXNG fill:#e74c3c,color:#fff,stroke:#c0392b

📊 Comparison with Alternatives

Feature	✨ This project	mcp-searxng	searxng-mcp	searxng-deepdive	exa-mcp-server
Search
200+ engines via SearXNG	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
30+ search categories	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
Multi-page fanout	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Autocomplete suggestions	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Engine discovery tool	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Dynamic tool descriptions	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Infrastructure
Self-contained (built-in SearXNG)	✅	❌	❌	❌	N/A
Zero-install Docker deploy	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
HTTP + stdio transport	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Authentication	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Web UI reverse proxy	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Claude Code Plugin	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
General
Free & open source	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌ (paid API)
Privacy (self-hosted)	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
Language	Python	Node.js	Python	Node.js	TypeScript

📖 Usage

🌐 HTTP Mode (default)

# Without authentication
docker run -d --name searxng-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p YOUR_PORT:8888 --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest

# With authentication
docker run -d --name searxng-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p YOUR_PORT:8888 --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  -e API_KEY=your-secret-key \
  ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest

🔗 MCP Endpoint	`http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/`
🖥 SearXNG Web UI	`http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/`

📡 stdio Mode

docker run --rm -i --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest --stdio

No ports exposed. Communication via stdin/stdout. SearXNG runs internally for the MCP tools.

⚙️ Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`API_KEY`	(empty, no auth)	API key for authentication

🔐 Authentication

When API_KEY is set, all requests require one of:

x-api-key header — for MCP clients: x-api-key: your-key
HTTP Basic Auth — for browsers

[!TIP] Browser Login: When accessing the Web UI with API_KEY enabled, the browser will show a login dialog. Leave the username empty and enter your API key as the password.

When API_KEY is not set, all requests are open.

🔧 MCP Tools Reference

🔍 search — Search the web using SearXNG

Aggregates results from 200+ search engines with privacy.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`query`	string	yes	—	The search query to use
`categories`	string	no	""	Comma-separated category names (e.g., `general,news,science`)
`engines`	string	no	""	Comma-separated engine names (e.g., `google,arxiv,wikipedia`)
`language`	string	no	""	Search language code (e.g., `en`, `zh`, `ja`)
`time_range`	enum	no	null	`day`, `week`, `month`, `year`
`safesearch`	enum	no	0	`0`=off, `1`=moderate, `2`=strict
`pageno`	int ≥1	no	1	Starting page number
`pages`	int 1–5	no	1	Number of pages to fetch in parallel
`max_results`	int 1–100	no	10	Maximum number of results to return
`format`	enum	no	compact	`compact` (title/url/content) or `full` (+ engines/score/category/date)

Returns: results, answers, suggestions, corrections, infoboxes.

💡 autocomplete — Get search query suggestions

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	yes	Partial query string to get suggestions for

🗂 engine_info — Discover available engines and categories

No parameters. Returns the list of enabled engines grouped by category.

Returns:

{
  "categories": ["general", "images", "videos", "news", ...],
  "engines": ["google", "bing", "duckduckgo", ...],
  "category_engines": {
    "general": ["google", "bing", "duckduckgo", "brave", ...],
    "science": ["arxiv", "google scholar", "pubmed", ...],
    ...
  }
}

Use this to discover what engines are available before calling search with specific engines or categories filters.

🔌 Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Server mode — edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "url": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Server mode:

claude mcp add --transport http --header "x-api-key: your-secret-key" searxng http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/

Local mode:

claude mcp add --transport stdio searxng -- docker run --rm -i --memory=512m --cpus=1 ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest --stdio

Codex

Server mode — add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.searxng]
url = "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/"
http_headers = { "x-api-key" = "your-secret-key" }

Local mode:

[mcp_servers.searxng]
command = "docker"
args = ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]

Cursor

Server mode — edit .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "url": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code Copilot

Server mode — add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "searxng": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "servers": {
    "searxng": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Server mode — add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "serverUrl": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Cline

Configure via Cline's MCP settings panel in VS Code (Cline > MCP Servers > Add).

Server mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "url": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Server mode — edit opencode.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "searxng": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "x-api-key": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local mode:

{
  "mcp": {
    "searxng": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Hermes Agent

Server mode — edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

mcp_servers:
  searxng:
    url: "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/"
    headers:
      x-api-key: "your-secret-key"

Local mode:

mcp_servers:
  searxng:
    command: "docker"
    args: ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--memory=512m", "--cpus=1", "ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest", "--stdio"]

🧩 Claude Code Plugin

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin that fits your setup:

/plugin marketplace add whw23/searxng_http_mcp

Both plugins include the 🔍 /web-search-via-searxng skill for web search.

🐳 Local mode — Docker stdio, zero config

/plugin install searxng-http-mcp@searxng-http-mcp

Runs SearXNG in a local Docker container via stdio. Requires Docker installed.

🌐 Remote mode — connect to a deployed server via HTTP

/plugin install searxng-http-mcp@searxng-http-mcp-remote

Connects to a deployed SearXNG MCP server. Requires env vars SEARXNG_MCP_URL and SEARXNG_API_KEY.

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json under the env field:

{
  "env": {
    "SEARXNG_MCP_URL": "http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/mcp/",
    "SEARXNG_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
  }
}

Then restart Claude Code.

🛠 SearXNG Configuration

🖥 Via Web UI

Access the SearXNG Web UI at http://YOUR_HOST:YOUR_PORT/ to configure search engines, languages, and other settings. Changes persist during the container's lifetime.

💾 Via Volume Mount — persistent configuration

Mount the SearXNG config directory for persistent configuration:

docker run -d --name searxng-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p YOUR_PORT:8888 --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  -v /path/to/searxng-config:/etc/searxng \
  ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp:latest

SearXNG generates settings.yml on first startup. The container automatically enables JSON format output required by MCP tools.

🏗 Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/whw23/searxng_http_mcp.git
cd searxng-http-mcp
docker build -t searxng-http-mcp:local .
docker run -d --name searxng-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p YOUR_PORT:8888 --memory=512m --cpus=1 \
  searxng-http-mcp:local

🤝 Contributing

🍴 Fork the repository
🌿 Create a feature branch from dev
✍️ Make your changes
✅ Run tests: pytest tests/ -v
📬 Submit a PR to dev

Development happens on the dev branch. Merges to main trigger image builds.

📄 License

MIT — MCP server code.

SearXNG itself is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later.