Name: SearXNG HTTP MCP
Author: whw23

LABSCO SUMMARY

Search that answers to an instance you control, rather than to an API's quota and terms.

The value is where the query goes: a SearXNG instance of your own, aggregating many engines, with no key and nothing billed per search. The container makes that practical, since it is self-contained and does not require standing up SearXNG separately first. What you take on in exchange is operating it — result quality follows whichever engines your instance has enabled, which is exactly what engine_info exists to tell you.

What it is

A server wrapping SearXNG, the privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from many search engines at once. Three tools: search with filters, autocomplete a partial query, and list which engines and categories the instance actually has enabled.

What you get

search queries the instance across its engines, filtered by category, language, safesearch setting and time range, or narrowed to a named engine list
Multi-page fanout — up to five pages in a single call — with max_results capping what actually comes back into the conversation
autocomplete returns query suggestions for a partial phrase, which is how you find the wording that retrieves something
engine_info lists the enabled engines grouped by category, so a query is aimed at what this instance can actually reach rather than at what SearXNG could reach in principle
Categories well beyond general web search: news, images, videos, science and IT among them
No search API key anywhere in the path — queries go to a SearXNG instance instead of a commercial search API

Requirements

Three ways to run it. The container image ghcr.io/whw23/searxng-http-mcp is self-contained: run it detached and connect over Streamable HTTP at /mcp/, where API_KEY turns on authentication and leaving it empty means none, or run the same image with --stdio for a local client. If you already run SearXNG, uvx searxng-http-mcp is enough with SEARXNG_URL pointing at your instance, which defaults to http://127.0.0.1:8080. The uvx path needs Python 3.14 or newer.

Setup effort

One command — uvx searxng-http-mcp

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Searching the web without a search API key

One query fans out across the engines the instance has enabled and returns the aggregated results.

search

02

Narrowing to a kind of source

Categories cover news, images, videos, science and IT, so a research question does not come back full of shopping results.

searchengine_info

03

Finding a query that actually retrieves something

Autocomplete suggests the phrasings the engines respond to, before a full search is spent on a guess.

autocompletesearch

04

Restricting to what happened recently

A time range on the search keeps years-old pages out of an answer about something current.

search

05

Checking what the instance can actually reach

engine_info lists the enabled engines by category, which explains a thin result set faster than retrying the query.

engine_info

3 tools

Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.

`autocomplete`

Get search query suggestions from SearXNG.

Returns a list of autocomplete suggestions for the given partial query. Use this to discover relevant search terms before performing a full search.

Best results come from 1-2 meaningful keywords (e.g., "python async"). Single characters return overly broad suggestions; full sentences return none.

Makes an external API call to the configured autocomplete backend (e.g., Bing, Google). Not suitable for full web search (use search tool) or engine discovery (use engine_info tool).

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Tools you get

3 tools when we connected. search takes categories, engines, language and time_range as arguments rather than splitting them into separate tools.

Requires

uvx on PATH

CONTEXT COST

Light Standing cost

Rated by the size of the 3 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

Server setup

TERMINAL

uvx searxng-http-mcp

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop, Cursor

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "searxng-http-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "http://<YOUR_SEARXNG_HOST>:<YOUR_SEARXNG_PORT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

CLAUDE CODE · TERMINAL

claude mcp add --transport stdio searxng -- uvx searxng-http-mcp

VS Code

Start the server-mode container (<YOUR_PORT> is the port you want to publish):

VS CODE · TERMINAL

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 add this to .vscode/mcp.json, with <YOUR_HOST> and <YOUR_PORT> set to where the container is reachable:

VS CODE · JSON

{
  "servers": {
    "searxng": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<YOUR_HOST>:<YOUR_PORT>/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

SearXNG HTTP MCP

Search that answers to an instance you control, rather than to an API's quota and terms.

What it is

What you get

Requirements

Setup effort

Searching the web without a search API key

Narrowing to a kind of source

Finding a query that actually retrieves something

Restricting to what happened recently

Checking what the instance can actually reach

3 tools

`autocomplete`

`engine_info`

`search`

What to know first

Tools you get

Requires

Light Standing cost

Connect your client

Server setup

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop, Cursor

Claude Code

VS Code

SearXNG HTTP MCP

Search that answers to an instance you control, rather than to an API's quota and terms.

What it is

What you get

Requirements

Setup effort

Searching the web without a search API key

Narrowing to a kind of source

Finding a query that actually retrieves something

Restricting to what happened recently

Checking what the instance can actually reach

3 tools

autocomplete

engine_info

search

What to know first

Tools you get

Requires

Light Standing cost

Connect your client

Server setup

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop, Cursor

Claude Code

VS Code

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`autocomplete`

`engine_info`

`search`