The SearXNG MCP server enables AI assistants to perform web searches using SearXNG, a privacy-respecting metasearch engine. It works immediately with zero configuration by automatically selecting random public instances from SearX.space, while also supporting private instances with authentication.
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tisDDM/searxng-mcp.git
cd searxng-mcp
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Build the project
npm run build
The SearXNG MCP server can be configured with these environment variables:
SEARXNG_URL (optional): The URL of your SearXNG instance (e.g., https://searx.example.com). If not provided, a random public instance is automatically selected.USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE (optional): Set to "false" to disable random instance selection. Default is "true".SEARXNG_USERNAME (optional): Username for basic authentication with private instancesSEARXNG_PASSWORD (optional): Password for basic authentication with private instancesYou can set these in a .env file in the root directory:
SEARXNG_URL=https://searx.example.com
SEARXNG_USERNAME=your_username
SEARXNG_PASSWORD=your_password
# If installed globally
searxngmcp
# If installed from source
node build/index.js
{
"mcpServers": {
"searxngmcp": {
"command": "searxngmcp",
"env": {
"SEARXNG_URL": "https://searx.example.com",
"SEARXNG_USERNAME": "your_username",
"SEARXNG_PASSWORD": "your_password"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"searxngmcp": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/searxng-mcp/build/index.js"],
"env": {
"SEARXNG_URL": "https://searx.example.com",
"SEARXNG_USERNAME": "your_username",
"SEARXNG_PASSWORD": "your_password"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}
SearXNG MCP can be integrated with Smolagents to create research agents:
from smolagents import CodeAgent, LiteLLMModel, ToolCollection
from mcp import StdioServerParameters
# Configure the SearXNG MCP server
server_parameters = StdioServerParameters(
command="node",
args=["path/to/searxng-mcp/build/index.js"],
env={
"SEARXNG_URL": "https://your-searxng-instance.com",
"SEARXNG_USERNAME": "your_username", # Optional
"SEARXNG_PASSWORD": "your_password" # Optional
}
)
# Create a tool collection from the MCP server
with ToolCollection.from_mcp(server_parameters) as tool_collection:
# Initialize your LLM model
model = LiteLLMModel(
model_id="your-model-id",
api_key="your-api-key",
temperature=0.7
)
# Create an agent with the search tools
search_agent = CodeAgent(
name="search_agent",
tools=tool_collection.tools,
model=model
)
# Run the agent with a search prompt
result = search_agent.run(
"Perform a search about: 'climate change solutions' and summarize the top 5 results."
)
print(result)
Perform web searches using SearXNG with customizable parameters.
| Parameter | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | Search query | - | Yes |
| language | string | Language code for results (e.g., 'en', 'de', 'fr') | 'en' | No |
| time_range | string | Time range for results. Options: 'day', 'week', 'month', 'year' | null | No |
| categories | array of strings | Categories to search in (e.g., 'general', 'images', 'news') | null | No |
| engines | array of strings | Specific search engines to use | null | No |
| safesearch | number | Safe search level: 0 (off), 1 (moderate), 2 (strict) | 1 | No |
| pageno | number | Page number for results. Must be minimum 1 | 1 | No |
| max_results | number | Maximum number of search results to return. Range: 1-50 | 10 | No |
// Example request
const result = await client.callTool('searxngsearch', {
query: 'climate change solutions',
language: 'en',
time_range: 'year',
categories: ['general', 'news'],
safesearch: 1,
max_results: 5
});
To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "searxngmcp" '{"command":"searxngmcp","env":{"SEARXNG_URL":"https://searx.example.com","SEARXNG_USERNAME":"your_username","SEARXNG_PASSWORD":"your_password"},"disabled":false,"autoApprove":[]}'See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.
There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.
If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.
To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".
When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:
{
"mcpServers": {
"searxngmcp": {
"command": "searxngmcp",
"env": {
"SEARXNG_URL": "https://searx.example.com",
"SEARXNG_USERNAME": "your_username",
"SEARXNG_PASSWORD": "your_password"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.
Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.
The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.
You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json2. Add this to your configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"searxngmcp": {
"command": "searxngmcp",
"env": {
"SEARXNG_URL": "https://searx.example.com",
"SEARXNG_USERNAME": "your_username",
"SEARXNG_PASSWORD": "your_password"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect