# SearXNG Search

Wires an AI assistant to your own SearXNG instance for web search with pagination and URL reading. Useful when you want search without a paid vendor key.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 1329
- Author: ihor-sokoliuk
- License: MIT · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng
- Updated: 2026-10-22
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/searxng-search

## What it does

The server sits between the client and SearXNG. The client either spawns a local STDIO process or talks to an HTTP service, and `SEARXNG_URL` points at the search service itself, not at the MCP endpoint. Four tools ship with it: `searxng_web_search` for finding and refining results, `searxng_search_suggestions` for query completion, `searxng_instance_info` for categories and engines, and `web_url_read` for pulling a known page as text or Markdown.

You need a SearXNG instance with JSON search turned on before anything works. This project does not install SearXNG. No instance of your own means running a self-hosted one or picking a public one, and a public instance sees your query and may log it. Neither SearXNG nor this integration makes you anonymous on its own.

Local use needs Node.js 22 or later and `npx`. Docker is an option, as are Streamable HTTP with static bearer auth and optional OAuth, plus a semicolon-separated replica list for interchangeable deployments. There is no paid search-vendor key involved, but the instance is the hard dependency — check that first.

## Requirements
- Needs: Node.js (commands run via npx)
- Environment variables: `SEARXNG_URL`, `AUTH_USERNAME`, `AUTH_PASSWORD` — keys and tokens: ask the human for the values, never commit them or put them in shared files.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add mcp-searxng -e SEARXNG_URL=<SEARXNG_URL> -e AUTH_USERNAME=<AUTH_USERNAME> -e AUTH_PASSWORD=<AUTH_PASSWORD> -- npx -y mcp-searxng
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add searxng-search --env SEARXNG_URL=<SEARXNG_URL> --env AUTH_USERNAME=<AUTH_USERNAME> --env AUTH_PASSWORD=<AUTH_PASSWORD> -- npx -y mcp-searxng
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### Cursor

**Config file**
File `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "searxng-search": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-searxng"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SEARXNG_URL": "<SEARXNG_URL>",
                "AUTH_USERNAME": "<AUTH_USERNAME>",
                "AUTH_PASSWORD": "<AUTH_PASSWORD>"
            }
        }
    }
}
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### GitHub Copilot

**Config file**
File `.vscode/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "servers": {
        "searxng-search": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-searxng"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SEARXNG_URL": "<SEARXNG_URL>",
                "AUTH_USERNAME": "<AUTH_USERNAME>",
                "AUTH_PASSWORD": "<AUTH_PASSWORD>"
            }
        }
    }
}
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add -e SEARXNG_URL=<SEARXNG_URL> -e AUTH_USERNAME=<AUTH_USERNAME> -e AUTH_PASSWORD=<AUTH_PASSWORD> searxng-search npx -y mcp-searxng
```
Replace <…> with your own values

## When to use it
- give an assistant web search without buying a vendor API key
- read a found page as text or Markdown
- pull text out of a PDF behind a link
- refine a query with instance suggestions
- inspect which categories and engines an instance exposes

## Example prompts
- Search for SearXNG docs with searxng_web_search and show the top results
- Read this URL with web_url_read and summarise it
- Call searxng_instance_info and list the available categories

## Similar
- [searxng-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/searxng-search.md) — skill · 828 installs
- [web-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/web-search.md) — skill · 110000 installs
- [firecrawl-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/firecrawl-search.md) — skill · 84400 installs
- [firecrawl-build-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/firecrawl-build-search.md) — skill · 61600 installs
- [tavily-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/tavily-search.md) — skill · 36100 installs
- [parallel-web-search](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/parallel-web-search.md) — skill · 14400 installs

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