Provides web search through a SearXNG instance, enabling general and vertical searches (news, science, IT, images, videos, etc.), news-specific searches with time filters, and extraction of web page content as clean plain text.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@searxng-mcp search for latest news on renewable energy"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for web search backed by SearXNG — a self-hosted, privacy-focused metasearch engine.
No API keys, no vendor lock-in, no commercial quotas. Point it at any SearXNG instance and give your MCP client (Qwen Code, Claude, etc.) real web access.
Tool | Description |
| General & vertical search (categories: |
| News-vertical search with time filtering. Same result shape as |
| Fetch a page and return its main content as clean plain text (scripts, navigation and boilerplate removed). Truncates to |
Related MCP server: searxng-mcp-server
MCP client ──stdio──> searxng-mcp ──HTTP JSON API──> your SearXNG instance ──> upstream enginesThe server queries the SearXNG JSON API (GET /search?format=json) and normalizes the response into a compact, LLM-friendly shape. Errors are actionable: if the instance hasn't enabled the JSON format, the tool tells you exactly what to add to settings.yml.
cd examples
docker compose up -d # or: podman run -d --name searxng -p 8080:8080 \
# -v $PWD/searxng-settings.yml:/etc/searxng/settings.yml:ro \
# searxng/searxng:latestThe instance runs at http://localhost:8080. The example settings enable the JSON API — required for this server:
search:
formats:
- html
- jsongit clone https://github.com/BG-Titan/searxng-mcp.git
cd searxng-mcp
uv sync # or: python -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -e .SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8080 uv run searxng-mcp
# stdio transport by default; set SEARXNG_MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http to switchSee examples/mcp-client.example.json (Claude Desktop / Qwen Code / Claude Code compatible .mcp.json format). Replace the path placeholder with your checkout:
{
"mcpServers": {
"searxng": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run", "--directory", "/abs/path/to/searxng-mcp", "searxng-mcp"],
"env": { "SEARXNG_URL": "http://localhost:8080" }
}
}
}Without uv, point command at the installed entry point (e.g. /path/to/.venv/bin/searxng-mcp).
uv run pytest # unit tests, schema checks and a stdio end-to-end testEnvironment variables read at startup:
Variable | Default | Description |
|
| Base URL of your SearXNG instance. |
|
| Per-request timeout in seconds. |
|
| MCP transport: |
searxng-mcp/
├── .github/workflows/ci.yml # GitHub Actions: uv sync + pytest
├── examples/
│ ├── docker-compose.yml # one-shot local SearXNG
│ ├── mcp-client.example.json # MCP client config example
│ └── searxng-settings.yml # SearXNG settings with JSON API enabled
├── src/searxng_mcp/
│ ├── client.py # SearXNG JSON API client (httpx)
│ ├── extract.py # page fetch + readable-text extraction
│ ├── server.py # MCPServer (mcp SDK 2.x) & tool registration
│ └── __main__.py
├── tests/
│ ├── test_client.py # parsing, params, error paths (MockTransport)
│ ├── test_extract.py # HTML -> text
│ ├── test_server.py # tool schemas & invocation
│ └── test_smoke.py # stdio handshake + real-HTTP e2e test
└── pyproject.tomluv sync # create .venv, install deps + dev group
uv run pytest -q # run the test suiteSearXNG returned HTML instead of JSON — the instance has the JSON format disabled. Add search.formats: [html, json] to its settings.yml and restart.
HTTP 429 — the instance limiter is active; set server.limiter.on: false in settings.yml for local use.
Cannot connect to SearXNG — check the instance is up and SEARXNG_URL points to it.
Few/empty results — SearXNG results depend on its enabled upstream engines and languages; try a different language or the general category.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run uv run pytest before submitting.
BSD-3-Clause © BG-Titan
Fetch a web page and return its main content as clean plain text (scripts, navigation and boilerplate removed). Use after web_search / web_search_news to read a result in full. The text is truncated to max_chars.
Inputs: url (required), max_chars. Returns: object
Search the web through a self-hosted SearXNG metasearch instance. Returns ranked results (title, URL, snippet, source engines) plus direct answers, corrections and suggestions when SearXNG provides them. Use category for verticals such as science, it, files, images, videos, music, map or 'social media'; use web_search_news for time-filtered news.
Inputs: query (required), pageno, category, language, +2 more. Returns: object
Search news articles via SearXNG's news vertical. Supports a freshness filter (day/week/month/year) and an optional language code. Returns the same result shape as web_search.
Inputs: query (required), pageno, language, safesearch, +1 more. Returns: object
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
v0.1.0web_extractweb_searchweb_search_newsScored across 3 tools
web_search and web_search_news overlap somewhat, but web_search_news is clearly scoped to time-filtered news while web_search covers general/vertical search. web_extract is completely distinct, so an agent should be able to choose correctly with the descriptions.
web_search and web_search_news follow a clear web_search[_modifier] pattern, and web_extract is also snake_case and readable. The slight inconsistency is that web_extract uses a different verb style than the web_search* tools, but the overall naming is predictable.
Three tools is a well-scoped set for a search-focused MCP server: general search, news search, and page extraction. Each tool serves a distinct need without unnecessary bloat.
The server covers the core search workflow: searching the web, searching news with time filters, and extracting page content for deeper reading. SearXNG categories are exposed via web_search, so verticals like images or videos are also reachable, leaving no obvious dead ends.
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