# searxng-search

Connects your agent to a local SearXNG metasearch instance for web and package lookups. Returns clean JSON data without external tracking.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 828 installs · ★ 30
- Author: YPares
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/YPares/agent-skills/tree/HEAD/searxng-search/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/searxng-search

## What it does

This skill lets coding agents run and query a local SearXNG metasearch instance. The helper script starts a container using `podman` or `docker` on port `8888` with JSON output enabled. Searches run via `curl`. Results include titles, snippets, source engines, and relevance scores.

Searches can target categories such as `cargo`, `packages`, `repos`, and `it`. This makes it simple to inspect crates.io or npm packages directly from the terminal.

You must have `curl` 7.0.0 or higher and a working `podman` or `docker` runtime. The built-in PyPI engine currently fails to return results in SearXNG, so Python packages require direct PyPI JSON calls or the `qypi` CLI tool.

## Requirements
- Works with: Docker

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add YPares/agent-skills --skill searxng-search -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/searxng-search/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/searxng-search/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add YPares/agent-skills --skill searxng-search -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/searxng-search/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add YPares/agent-skills --skill searxng-search -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/searxng-search/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install YPares/agent-skills searxng-search
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/searxng-search/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add YPares/agent-skills --skill searxng-search -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/YPares/agent-skills --path searxng-search
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/searxng-search/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add YPares/agent-skills --skill searxng-search -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/YPares/agent-skills/tree/HEAD/searxng-search/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- query web search engines and package registries via local curl commands
- retrieve multi-engine search results formatted as clean JSON
- spin up a private SearXNG container via Docker or Podman
- filter search hits by categories like repos, cargo, and IT

## Example prompts
- Start SearXNG locally in detached mode
- Search cargo packages for tokio using SearXNG
- Run a web search for rust async in the it category and return top 5 results

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: f4c507dd2eacd01a.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE f4c507dd2eacd01a
````text
---
name: searxng-search
description: Enhanced web and package repository search using local SearXNG instance
version: 1.0.0
targets:
  - searxng: ">=2024.0.0"
  - podman or docker: "any"
  - curl: ">=7.0.0"
---

# SearXNG Search

SearXNG is a privacy-respecting metasearch engine that you can run locally. It aggregates results from multiple search engines and package repositories, returning clean JSON output.

## Quick Start

**Start SearXNG:**
```bash
start-searxng --detach
```

This will:
- Auto-detect podman or docker
- Create a minimal config with JSON output enabled
- Start SearXNG on `http://localhost:8888`
- Wait until ready

**Stop SearXNG:**
```bash
podman stop searxng  # or: docker stop searxng
```

**Custom port:**
```bash
start-searxng --port 9999 --detach
```

## Quick Reference

| Task | Command | Category |
|------|---------|----------|
| General web search | `curl "http://localhost:8888/search?q=<query>&format=json"` | `general` |
| Search Cargo/crates.io | `curl "http://localhost:8888/search?q=<crate>&format=json&categories=cargo"` | `cargo` |
| Search npm packages | `curl "http://localhost:8888/search?q=<pkg>&format=json&categories=packages"` | `packages` |
| Search code repositories | `curl "http://localhost:8888/search?q=<query>&format=json&categories=repos"` | `repos` |
| Search IT resources | `curl "http://localhost:8888/search?q=<query>&format=json&categories=it"` | `it` |
| Limit results | Add `&limit=N` to URL | - |
| Multiple categories | `&categories=cat1,cat2` | - |

## Available Categories

Run to see all categories:
```bash
curl -s "http://localhost:8888/config" | jq '.categories'
```

Notable categories:
- **general**: General web search (default)
- **cargo**: Rust crates from crates.io
- **packages**: Multi-repo (npm, rubygems, haskell/hoogle, hex, packagist, metacpan, pub.dev, pkg.go.dev, docker hub, alpine, etc.)
- **it**: IT/tech resources (includes GitHub, Docker Hub, crates.io)
- **repos**: Code repositories
- **code**: Code search
- **scientific publications**: Academic papers
- **news**, **videos**, **images**, **books**, etc.

**See [package-engine-status.md](references/package-engine-status.md) for comprehensive package search testing results.**

## JSON Response Structure

```json
{
  "query": "search term",
  "number_of_results": 0,
  "results": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "title": "Result Title",
      "content": "Snippet of content...",
      "publishedDate": "2025-01-01T00:00:00",
      "engine": "duckduckgo",
      "engines": ["duckduckgo", "startpage"],
      "score": 3.0,
      "category": "general"
    }
  ],
  "answers": [],          // Direct answers/infoboxes
  "suggestions": [],      // Search suggestions
  "corrections": [],      // Query corrections
  "infoboxes": [],       // Knowledge panels
  "unresponsive_engines": []
}
```

## Common Usage Patterns

### 1. Package Repository Searches

**Cargo/Rust crates:**
```bash
curl -s "http://localhost:8888/search?q=tokio&format=json&categories=cargo" | \
  jq '.results[] | {title, url, content}'
```

**npm packages:**
```bash
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE f4c507dd2eacd01a

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