Quick Start

Add to your MCP client configuration (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

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

Replace YOUR_SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL with the URL of your SearXNG instance (e.g. https://searxng.example.com). You can also provide interchangeable replicas as a semicolon-separated list, e.g. https://one.example.com;https://two.example.com.

For verified Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline, and OpenCode recipes, see the MCP client configuration cookbook.

For a bounded, client-neutral method to search, inspect sources, cross-check claims, and cite evidence, see the evidence-focused research workflow.

For measured MCP-process CPU and memory starting points, see measured deployment profiles.

Features

• Web Search: General, news, and article queries with pagination, time-range/language/safe-search filters, relevance filtering (min_score), and formatted-text or raw-JSON output selected per call (response_format) or with the operator default (SEARXNG_DEFAULT_RESPONSE_FORMAT).
• Instance Failover & Fan-out: Configure interchangeable SearXNG replicas in SEARXNG_URL; searches fail over in order by default, or query all healthy replicas in parallel and merge results with SEARXNG_FANOUT.
• Direct Answers & Metadata: Text results surface SearXNG answers, corrections, suggestions, and infoboxes before the result list.
• Search Suggestions: Query autocomplete via SearXNG's /autocompleter endpoint.
• Instance Capability Discovery: Inspect configured categories, engines, defaults, locales, and plugins from /config.
• URL Content Reading: Content-type-aware Markdown conversion, including bounded PDF text extraction, with pagination, section filtering, paragraph ranges, and heading extraction.
• Browser Solver Support: For each uncached URL that passes static URL validation and the HEAD size preflight, optionally acquire a browser session from FlareSolverr, Byparr, or both, then replay the returned user-agent and scoped cookies through the bounded URL reader. In dual-provider mode FlareSolverr is always primary and Byparr is attempted only after a busy or transient-unavailable primary. FlareSolverr 3.5.0 and Byparr 2.1.0 were verified on 2026-07-30.
• Intelligent Caching: Both search results and URL content are cached in memory with configurable TTL and least-frequently-used (LFU) eviction, reducing redundant requests.
• SSRF Protection: web_url_read blocks private/internal URLs and redirects by default in all transport modes.
• HTTP Transport: Optional MCP SDK v2 Streamable HTTP mode with opt-in hardening, rate limiting, and bounded stateless compatibility for serverless or horizontally scaled deployments. Modern 2026-07-28 requests and retained legacy clients share the same tool and resource surface.
• HTML Fallback: Optionally parse results from the HTML page for public instances that reject format=json.
• Lite Tools Mode: Minimal tool schemas for local models with small context windows.
• Proxy Support: Global or per-tool HTTP/HTTPS proxies for search and URL-reader traffic.

The verified linux/amd64 images came from multi-architecture manifests ghcr.io/flaresolverr/flaresolverr:v3.5.0@sha256:139dfee1c6f89249c8d665d1333a42e8ec74ec0a86bc6bb1c8461e10d3a66a47 and ghcr.io/thephaseless/byparr:2.1.0@sha256:01a46a2865d9a6db5eb8ead04ec0dd33b8fbe233e8565ae70b50d4cc0af4cfb0. Client cancellation stops local work promptly, but a remote browser may continue until its configured provider timeout after the HTTP client disconnects. See browser solver verification.

Why mcp-searxng?

As of 2026-07-29, the capability comparison below reflects the official Brave MCP, Exa MCP, and Firecrawl MCP projects. “Pagination” means an exposed page or offset control. “Self-hosted” means the search service can run under your control. “Free / No API key” means this MCP server does not require a paid search-vendor API key; you still operate or select the underlying SearXNG instance.

Privacy depends on the SearXNG deployment. An operator-controlled instance can avoid trusting a third-party search operator, while a public instance receives the query and may log it. SearXNG and this MCP integration do not by themselves provide anonymity.

How It Works

mcp-searxng is a standalone MCP server — a separate Node.js process that your AI assistant connects to for web search. It queries one SearXNG instance, or a semicolon-separated list of interchangeable SearXNG replicas, via the HTTP JSON API.

Not a SearXNG plugin: This project cannot be installed as a native SearXNG plugin. Point it at any existing SearXNG instance, or interchangeable replica list, by setting SEARXNG_URL.

AI Assistant (e.g. Claude)
        │  MCP protocol
        ▼
  mcp-searxng  (this project — Node.js process)
        │  HTTP JSON API  (SEARXNG_URL)
        ▼
  SearXNG instance(s)

For SearXNG deployment, configuration, and troubleshooting, see Operating Self-Hosted SearXNG with mcp-searxng.

Tools