# SearXNG Search (MCP server)

> SearXNG Search is an MCP server that adds search and knowledge tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. MCP server for SearXNG — privacy-respecting web search with pagination, URL reading. It has 1,284 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y mcp-searxng.

Privacy-respecting web search for AI assistants — use an operator-controlled or trusted SearXNG instance with Claude, Cursor, and more.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng |
| GitHub stars | 1,284 |
| License | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript |
| Transport | stdio |
| Packages | npm: mcp-searxng |
| Remote URL | none |
| Needs API key | yes |
| Official | no |
| Works with | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code |
| Category | AI & search |
| Latest release | v2.5.1 (Oct 6, 2026) |
| Last commit | Oct 6, 2026 |
| MCP registry name | io.github.ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng |

## Install

### Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-searxng"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "your-value",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "your-value",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

### Claude Code

```sh
claude mcp add --env SEARXNG_URL=your-value --env AUTH_USERNAME=your-value --env AUTH_PASSWORD=your-value --transport stdio searxng-search -- npx -y mcp-searxng
```

### Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-search": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-searxng"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "your-value",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "your-value",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

### VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "searxng_url",
      "description": "SEARXNG_URL",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "auth_username",
      "description": "AUTH_USERNAME",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "auth_password",
      "description": "AUTH_PASSWORD",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "searxng-search": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-searxng"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_URL": "${input:searxng_url}",
        "AUTH_USERNAME": "${input:auth_username}",
        "AUTH_PASSWORD": "${input:auth_password}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Config formats checked against the official docs on 2026-10-07.

## Environment variables

- `SEARXNG_URL` (secret) (required): URL of your SearXNG instance
- `AUTH_USERNAME` (secret): Legacy global SearXNG Basic Auth username
- `AUTH_PASSWORD` (secret): Legacy global SearXNG Basic Auth password

## Tools

- `searxng_web_search`: Find sources and refine results
- `searxng_search_suggestions`: Complete or refine a query
- `searxng_instance_info`: Inspect categories, engines and defaults
- `web_url_read`: Read a known URL as text/Markdown

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