Web Search By Searxng

SearXNG Search

This skill enables web search using a custom SearXNG instance via its HTTP API.

Overview

SearXNG is a privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines. This skill allows you to search using a custom SearXNG instance URL.

API Endpoints

Required Configuration

You need a SearXNG instance URL. The user can provide: 1. A public instance URL (e.g., https://searx.be) 2. A self-hosted instance URL 3. An environment variable SEARXNG_URL containing the instance URL

Parameters

| Parameter | Required | Description | |-----------|----------|-------------| | q | Yes | Search query string | | format | No | Output format: json, csv, rss (default: HTML) | | language | No | Language code (e.g., en, zh, de) | | pageno | No | Page number (default: 1) | | time_range | No | Time filter: day, month, year | | categories | No | Comma-separated category list | | engines | No | Comma-separated engine list | | safesearch | No | Safe search level: 0, 1, 2 |

Categories and Engines

SearXNG organizes search into categories (tabs) with multiple engines per category.

Available Categories:

Common Engines:

Bang Syntax: Use ! prefix in queries to target specific engines:

For detailed engine lists and features, see references/engines_and_categories.md.

Usage

Using the Python Script

# Basic search
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python tutorial"
JSON output
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python tutorial" --format json
With language and time range
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "news" --lang en --time-range day
Use environment variable for URL
export SEARXNG_URL=https://searx.example.org
python scripts/searxng_search.py -q "search query"
Search specific category
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "AI" --categories news
Search specific engines
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python" --engines google,stackoverflow

Using HTTP Requests Directly

import requests
url = "https://searx.example.org/search"
params = {
    "q": "python tutorial",
    "format": "json",
    "language": "en",
    "categories": "general,it",  # Multiple categories
    "engines": "google,duckduckgo"  # Specific engines
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=30)
results = response.json()

Bang Syntax in Query

# Use bang syntax to target specific engines
params = {
    "q": "!github machine learning framework",  # Only search GitHub
    "format": "json"
}

JSON Response Format

{
  "query": "search query",
  "number_of_results": 1000000,
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Result Title",
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "content": "Snippet text...",
      "engine": "google",
      "score": 1.0
    }
  ],
  "answers": [],
  "suggestions": [],
  "unresponsive_engines": []
}

Important Notes

1. Format Availability: JSON/CSV/RSS formats must be enabled in the instance's settings.yml. Many public instances disable these formats. 2. Rate Limiting: Be respectful of the instance's resources. Add delays between requests. 3. Self-Hosting: For reliable API access, consider self-hosting a SearXNG instance. 4. Time Range: Not all engines support time range filtering. Check instance preferences. 5. Engine Availability: Not all engines are enabled on all instances. Check the instance's preferences page.

Example Workflows

Basic Web Search

Category-Specific Search

Multi-Page Search

Filtered Search

References

Using the Python Script

# Basic search
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python tutorial"
JSON output
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python tutorial" --format json
With language and time range
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "news" --lang en --time-range day
Use environment variable for URL
export SEARXNG_URL=https://searx.example.org
python scripts/searxng_search.py -q "search query"
Search specific category
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "AI" --categories news
Search specific engines
python scripts/searxng_search.py -u https://searx.example.org -q "python" --engines google,stackoverflow

Using HTTP Requests Directly

import requests
url = "https://searx.example.org/search"
params = {
    "q": "python tutorial",
    "format": "json",
    "language": "en",
    "categories": "general,it",  # Multiple categories
    "engines": "google,duckduckgo"  # Specific engines
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=30)
results = response.json()

Bang Syntax in Query

# Use bang syntax to target specific engines
params = {
    "q": "!github machine learning framework",  # Only search GitHub
    "format": "json"
}