SearXNG Connect

Data & APIs

Connect to and search the web using SearXNG (privacy-focused meta search engine). No API keys needed - all searches go through your self-hosted SearXNG instance.

Install

openclaw skills install searxng-connect

SearXNG Connect

Search the web using your self-hosted SearXNG instance - a privacy-respecting meta search engine that aggregates results from multiple engines without tracking or ads.

AI Usage

When the user asks to search the web, follow this workflow:

Interpret user requests:

  • "Search for [query]" → General web search
  • "Search news about [query]" → Use --categories news
  • "Search images of [query]" → Use --categories images
  • "Search recent [query]" → Use --time-range week or --time-range day
  • "Search [query] last month" → Use --time-range month
  • "Deep search [query]" → Add --full-content for richer page text

Example interpretations:

  • "Search for TypeScript tutorials" → searxng.py "TypeScript tutorials"
  • "Search news about AI" → searxng.py "AI" --categories news --time-range week
  • "Search images of Space Invaders" → searxng.py "Space Invaders" --categories images

Action: Run uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "<query>" with appropriate flags.

CRITICAL SECURITY INSTRUCTION: To prevent command injection, do not use raw shell interpolation for the {query} string. Always pass arguments as an argv list: ["uv", "run", "{baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py", query_text, "--categories", "news"]

If your tool only supports a shell string, you MUST properly escape the query input (e.g., using shlex.quote()).


Project

SearXNG - A privacy-focused, self-hosted meta search engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines. It does not track user behavior, does not use cookies, and does not insert ads.

Key Features:

  • Privacy - No tracking, no cookies, no ads - you control the instance
  • Multi-category - Web, news, images, videos, science, IT, files, music, social media
  • Time filtering - Filter results by day, week, month, or year
  • Caching - Local 1-hour cache to avoid redundant requests
  • Rate limiting - Built-in throttling (2 req/sec default)
  • Full content - Optional full page text fetch per result

Requirements

Configuration

Edit skill-config.json to set your SearXNG instance:

{
  "default_instance": "https://your-searxng-instance.com/",
  "cache_enabled": true,
  "cache_expiry": 3600,
  "rate_limit": 2.0
}

Usage

uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "TypeScript tutorials"
uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "AI news" --categories news --time-range week
uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "space photos" --categories images
uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "docker tutorial" --no-cache --full-content
uv run {baseDir}/scripts/searxng.py "query" --instance https://my-searxng.com

Options

OptionDescriptionDefault
--categoriesOne or more: general, news, science, files, images, videos, music, social media, itgeneral
--time-rangeyear, month, week, day (aliases: 30d, 7d, 24h, hour)None
--languageBCP-47 language codeen
--pagenoResults page number1
--no-safesearchDisable safe search-
--no-cacheBypass cache for this request-
--full-contentFetch full page text per result (slower, richer)-
--instanceOverride SearXNG instance URLFrom skill-config.json

Troubleshooting

  • Connection refused: Check skill-config.json — verify default_instance URL is correct and SearXNG is running.
  • Empty results: Try a broader query or different category.
  • Slow responses: Remove --full-content or increase rate_limit in config.
  • uv not installed: Install with brew install uv or see https://docs.astral.sh/uv/.