SearXNG

Add to your client

Copy the config for your MCP client and paste it into its config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-searxng"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "https://your-searxng-instance.example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Before you start

• Node.js (18+) for npx/npm, or Docker to run the published image
• Access to a SearXNG instance (self-hosted or remote), set via the SEARXNG_URL environment variable
• Optional: AUTH_USERNAME and AUTH_PASSWORD if your SearXNG instance is behind HTTP Basic Auth

About SearXNG

Tools & capabilities (4)

When to use it

• Use it when you want private, self-hosted web search instead of a commercial search API.
• Use it when you already run SearXNG and want to expose it to Claude or another MCP client.
• Use it when you need the model to read a page as clean Markdown after searching.
• Use it when search traffic must route through specific proxies for privacy or geo reasons.
• Use it when you want to inspect which engines/categories a SearXNG instance supports before querying.

Quick setup

1. 1Stand up or pick a SearXNG instance and note its base URL.
2. 2Add the server to your MCP client config with command `npx -y mcp-searxng` (or the Docker image) and set SEARXNG_URL in the env block.
3. 3If the instance requires it, add AUTH_USERNAME/AUTH_PASSWORD and any proxy variables.
4. 4Restart the MCP client.
5. 5Verify by asking the model to run a web search and then read one result URL.

SearXNG FAQ