SearXNG MCP Server

A bridge to use SearXNG as an MCP server from Claude Code.

日本語版 README はこちら

Features

• searxng_search: Web search with multiple engines

• searxng_images: Image search

• searxng_news: News search

Prerequisites

1. SearXNG instance running with JSON format enabled

   Important: SearXNG's default configuration only allows HTML format. To use this MCP server, you must enable JSON format by mounting a custom configuration file.

   First, create your configuration file from the example:

   cp searxng-config/settings.yml.example searxng-config/settings.yml # Edit settings.yml to set your own secret_key

   Then start SearXNG with the configuration:

   # Using Docker (recommended) docker run -d \ -p 8080:8080 \ -v $(pwd)/searxng-config/settings.yml:/etc/searxng/settings.yml:ro \ -e SEARXNG_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/ \ searxng/searxng # Or install locally # See: https://docs.searxng.org/admin/installation.html

   The searxng-config/settings.yml.example file includes the necessary configuration to enable JSON format:

   use_default_settings: true search: formats: - html - json server: secret_key: "your-secret-key-here" limiter: false image_proxy: true

2. Verify SearXNG is running with JSON format enabled

   curl "http://localhost:8080/search?q=test&format=json"

   If you get a 403 Forbidden error, the JSON format is not enabled. Make sure you mounted the configuration file correctly.

Installation

Claude Code Configuration

Method 1: Using CLI (Recommended)

To add environment variables:

Method 2: Manual Configuration

Project scope (.mcp.json in project root):

User scope (~/.claude.json):

Verify Installation

Auto-approve Tool Calls (Optional)

By default, Claude Code asks for confirmation each time a SearXNG tool is called. To skip confirmations, add the following to ~/.claude/settings.json:

Environment Variables

Usage Examples

From Claude Code:

Web Search

Image Search

News Search

Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden error with JSON format

If you get a 403 Forbidden error when using format=json, the JSON format is not enabled in your SearXNG instance. Make sure you:

1. Mount the configuration file when starting Docker:

   docker run -d \ -p 8080:8080 \ -v $(pwd)/searxng-config/settings.yml:/etc/searxng/settings.yml:ro \ -e SEARXNG_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/ \ searxng/searxng

2. Verify the configuration includes JSON format:

   docker exec <container_id> grep -A 3 "formats" /etc/searxng/settings.yml

Cannot connect to SearXNG

No results returned

SearXNG aggregates results from multiple search engines. If no results are returned:

1. Check if your SearXNG instance has engines enabled

2. Try specifying engines: engines: "google,bing,duckduckgo"

3. Check SearXNG logs for errors

MCP server not showing up

License

MIT