MCP-WebSearch-SearXNG

- Docker and Docker Compose must be installed
- Node.js >= 20 must be installed

git clone https://github.com/hypersniper05/MCP-WebSearch-SearXNG.git cd MCP-WebSearch-SearXNG

This gives you thedocker-compose.yml, the SearXNGsettings.yml, the MCP patches, and the customDockerfilealready laid out — so the next step is straight to configuration.

The shippedsearxng/config/settings.ymlisalready preconfiguredfor this stack — JSON output enabled, rate limiter off, fast engine retries, a curated set of working engines (Bing, Mojeek, Yahoo, Startpage, etc.). The only thing you need to touch here is thesecret_key.

The shippedsettings.ymlhas a placeholdersecret_key: "CHANGE_ME_BEFORE_RUNNING". SearXNGwill startwith the placeholder, so for a localhost-only personal instance you can leave it and come back to this later.Butif you ever bind to0.0.0.0, expose this to your LAN, or share it with anyone, generate a real one — otherwise an attacker can forge image-proxy and CSRF tokens against your instance.

Create a.envfile next todocker-compose.yml:

SEARXNG_SECRET=<paste your generated 64-char hex string here>

The env var overrides whatever is insettings.yml, so the placeholder can stay in the tracked file forever.

Replace the placeholder with your generated key. If you do this, make sure not to leak yoursettings.yml.

Generate a key with whichever tool you have installed:

docker compose build docker compose up -d

Expected:{"status":"healthy","server":"ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng","version":"0.9.2-enhanced","transport":"http"}

curl -s "http://localhost:8888/search?q=test&format=json" | head -c 200

Step 5 (only if accessing from another machine): Open the bindings to your LAN / Tailscale

By default the shippeddocker-compose.ymlbinds the services to127.0.0.1— reachable only from the machine running Docker. If you want another device on your LAN, your Tailscale tailnet, or anywhere else off-host to reach the SearXNG UI or the MCP endpoint, you have to change the bindings to0.0.0.0.

If both rows show127.0.0.1:(or one does and one doesn't, like SearXNG locked down while MCP is open), editdocker-compose.ymland change the binding(s):

services: searxng: ports: - "0.0.0.0:8888:8080" # was 127.0.0.1:8888:8080 mcp-searxng: ports: - "0.0.0.0:3001:3001" # was 127.0.0.1:3001:3001

Then afull down + upis required (port changes don't apply on a plainrestart):

docker compose down docker compose up -d docker compose ps

Ifdocker compose psalready shows0.0.0.0and external accessstillfails, it's the OS firewall. On Windows, allow the ports from an admin PowerShell:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MCP SearXNG (8888)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8888 -Action Allow New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "MCP Server (3001)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 3001 -Action Allow

Web search with category, pagination, and filtering support.

Fetches and reads URLs. Auto-detects image URLs and returns resized base64 image blocks.
- searxng_web_search({query: "sunset", categories: "images"})→ returns image URLs + metadata
- Pick an image →web_url_read({url: "https://example.com/sunset.jpg", detail: "medium"})→ returns resized base64 image
- To see more results →searxng_web_search({query: "sunset", categories: "images", offset: 10})→ results 11-20

All patches are inmcp-searxng-patches/and mounted read-only into the container:

SearXNG is pinned to:latestindocker-compose.yml, so updates are pull-and-restart. Config insearxng/config/settings.ymlis volume-mounted and survives the update.

cd MCP-WebSearch-SearXNG docker compose pull searxng # grab newest :latest image docker compose up -d searxng # recreate container with new image docker compose logs searxng --tail 100 # check for config-schema warnings docker image prune -f # remove the old image

Pin to a specific version (safer / reproducible)

Replace:latestindocker-compose.ymlwith a date-tagged release, e.g.:

image: docker.io/searxng/searxng:2026.4.15-abc1234

Updates then become an explicit edit — review release notes, bump tag,docker compose up -d.

A reasonable middle ground: schedule a weekly job that runsdocker compose pulland reports whether a new image is available, but does not auto-apply it.

mcp-searxngis built locally frommcp-searxng-patches/Dockerfile(base:isokoliuk/mcp-searxng:latest) with custom JS patches mounted on top. To pull upstream MCP changes:
- docker compose build --pull mcp-searxng— rebuilds from a freshly pulled base image
- docker compose up -d mcp-searxng— recreates the container
- Verify the patches inmcp-searxng-patches/*.jsstill apply cleanly against any upstream API changes (checkdocker compose logs mcp-searxngfor errors)

If upstream renames internal modules or changes function signatures, the volume-mounted JS patches may need to be rebased manually.

- Qwen3.6 35B A3B— runs bothsearxng_web_search(including multi-query and category filters) andweb_url_read(text + image modes) reliably. Tool selection, parameter inference, and result interpretation all work well with this model.

- MCP server uses HTTP Streamable transport (not stdio or SSE-only)
- SearXNG connects internally via Docker hostnamesearxng:8080
- All data stays local — no external API keys needed
- Custom patches are MIT-licensed, audited, no filesystem/shell access, no telemetry
- Search engines: Bing, Startpage, Mojeek, Yahoo active; Google with mobile UI (may intermittently block)

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