Searxng Mcp

CLI or API | MCP | Agent

Version: 2.1.0

Documentation — Installation, deployment, usage across the MCP tool, Python API, and console scripts, and guidance for provisioning the SearXNG instance are maintained in the official documentation.

Overview

Searxng Mcp is a production-grade Agent and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to interface directly with SearXNG Search Engine MCP Server for Agentic AI!.

Key Features

Consolidated Action-Routed MCP Tools: Minimizes token overhead and eliminates tool bloat in LLM contexts by grouping methods into optimized, togglable tool modules.
Enterprise-Grade Security: Comprehensive support for Eunomia policies, OIDC token delegation, and granular execution context tracking.
Integrated Graph Agent: Built-in Pydantic AI agent supporting the Agent Control Protocol (ACP) and standard Web interfaces (AG-UI).
Native Telemetry & Tracing: Out-of-the-box OpenTelemetry exports and native Langfuse tracing.

CLI or API

This agent wraps the SearXNG Search Engine MCP Server for Agentic AI! API. You can interact with it programmatically or via its integrated execution entrypoints.

Detailed instructions on how to use the underlying API wrappers, extended schema bindings, and developer SDK references are maintained in docs/index.md.

MCP

This server utilizes dynamic Action-Routed tools to optimize token overhead and maximize IDE compatibility.

Available MCP Tools

The table below is auto-generated from the MCP server — do not edit by hand.

Condensed action-routed tools (`MCP_TOOL_MODE=condensed`)

MCP Tool	Toggle Env Var	Description
`searxng_ingest_search`	`KGTOOL`	Run a SearXNG search and natively ingest its results into epistemic-graph.
`searxng_search_app`	`SEARCH_APPTOOL`	Launch an interactive SearXNG search-UI app: a query box, category filters, and a clickable results list, backed by the existing web_search tool through the host-mediated MCP Apps bridge. Use this when a human should see and interact with search results visually rather than read raw JSON. Does NOT drive a browser or render arbitrary web pages -- only this search workflow.
`searxng_settings`	`CONFIGTOOL`	Read/edit the EMBEDDED SearXNG instance's settings.yml
`web_search`	—	Perform a web search using a privacy-respecting SearXNG metasearch instance.

4 action-routed tool(s) · 0 verbose 1:1 tool(s). Each is enabled unless its <DOMAIN>TOOL toggle is set false; MCP_TOOL_MODE selects the surface (intent default — the six verb-tools, granular set loaded on demand · condensed action-routed · verbose 1:1 · both). Auto-generated — do not edit.

Detailed tool schemas, parameter shapes, and validation constraints are preserved in docs/usage.md.

Dynamic Tool Selection & Visibility

This MCP server supports dynamic toolset selection and visibility filtering at runtime. This allows you to restrict the set of exposed tools in order to prevent blowing up the LLM's context window.

You can configure tool filtering via multiple input channels:

CLI Arguments: Pass --tools or --toolsets (or their disabled counterparts --disabled-tools and --disabled-toolsets) during startup.
Environment Variables: Define standard environment variables:
- MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS / MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS
- MCP_ENABLED_TAGS / MCP_DISABLED_TAGS
HTTP SSE Request Headers: Pass custom headers during transport initialization:
- x-mcp-enabled-tools / x-mcp-disabled-tools
- x-mcp-enabled-tags / x-mcp-disabled-tags
HTTP SSE Request Query Parameters: Append query parameters directly to your transport connection URL:
- ?tools=tool1,tool2
- ?tags=tag1

When query strings or parameters are supplied, an LLM-free Knowledge Graph resolution layer (using DynamicToolOrchestrator) matches query intents against known tool tags, names, or descriptions, with safe fallback and automated 24-hour background cache refreshing.

MCP Configuration Examples

Install the connector-focused [mcp] extra. Examples use searxng-mcp[mcp] to add FastMCP / FastAPI through agent-utilities[mcp]; the required Agent Utilities core still carries epistemic-graph[full]. The [agent-runtime] extra additionally enables model orchestration.

stdio Transport (local IDEs — Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "searxng-mcp[mcp]",
        "searxng-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TOOL_MODE": "intent",
        "SEARCH_APPTOOL": "true",
        "SEARXNG_EMBEDDED": "true",
        "SEARXNG_KG_INGEST": "true",
        "USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Runtime references require an alias-aware launcher such as GraphOS. Other launchers must omit those entries and inject the resolved values through their own runtime secret boundary.

Streamable-HTTP Transport (networked / production)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "searxng-mcp[mcp]",
        "searxng-mcp",
        "--transport",
        "streamable-http",
        "--port",
        "8000"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TRANSPORT": "streamable-http",
        "HOST": "127.0.0.1",
        "PORT": "8000",
        "MCP_TOOL_MODE": "intent",
        "SEARCH_APPTOOL": "true",
        "SEARXNG_EMBEDDED": "true",
        "SEARXNG_KG_INGEST": "true",
        "USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternatively, connect to a pre-deployed Streamable-HTTP instance by url:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-mcp": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/searxng-mcp/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Run a reviewed container image as a least-privilege stdio child (no listener or published port):

docker run -i --rm \
  --read-only \
  --cap-drop=ALL \
  --security-opt=no-new-privileges \
  --pids-limit=256 \
  --tmpfs /tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=64m \
  -e TRANSPORT=stdio \
  -e MCP_TOOL_MODE=intent \
  -e SEARCH_APPTOOL=true \
  -e SEARXNG_EMBEDDED=true \
  -e SEARXNG_KG_INGEST=true \
  -e USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE=false \
  registry.example.invalid/searxng-mcp@sha256:<digest> searxng-mcp

For containerized network HTTP, supply an authenticated TLS ingress (or direct server TLS), exact MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS, and an exact trusted-proxy CIDR policy through the operator-owned deployment profile. The generator does not emit an unauthenticated non-loopback listener.

Auto-generated from the code-read env surface (MCP_TOOL_MODE + package vars) — do not edit.

Additional Deployment Options

searxng-mcp can run as a local stdio process or container, or behind a remote network boundary. The Deployment guide carries the detailed transport contract.

Local container — launch a reviewed immutable image as a least-privilege stdio child with no listener or published port.
Remote URL — connect through an operator-supplied authenticated HTTPS ingress. Keep its URL, outbound identity references, trust profile, and exact MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS in AgentConfig.

Agent

This repository features a fully integrated Pydantic AI Graph Agent. It communicates over the Agent Control Protocol (ACP) and interacts seamlessly with the Agent Web UI (AG-UI) and Terminal interface.

Running the Agent CLI

To start the interactive command-line agent:

# Set credentials
export SEARXNG_URL="your_value"

# Run the agent server
searxng-agent --provider openai --model-id gpt-4o

Docker Compose Orchestration

The following docker/agent.compose.yml configures the Agent, Web UI, and Terminal Interface together:

version: '3.8'

services:
  searxng-mcp-mcp:
    image: example/searxng-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: searxng-mcp-mcp
    hostname: searxng-mcp-mcp
    restart: always
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=8000
      - TRANSPORT=streamable-http
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "python3", "-c", "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8000/health')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 10s
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"

  searxng-mcp-agent:
    image: example/searxng-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: searxng-mcp-agent
    hostname: searxng-mcp-agent
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - searxng-mcp-mcp
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    command: [ "searxng-agent" ]
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=9001
      - MCP_URL=http://searxng-mcp-mcp:8000/mcp
      - PROVIDER=${PROVIDER:-openai}
      - MODEL_ID=${MODEL_ID:-gpt-4o}
      - ENABLE_WEB_UI=True
      - ENABLE_OTEL=True
    ports:
      - "9001:9001"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "python3", "-c", "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:9001/health')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 10s
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"

Detailed graph node architecture explanations, custom skill configurations, and agentic trace guides are available in docs/deployment.md.

Security & Governance

Built directly upon the enterprise-ready agent-utilities core, standard security parameters are fully supported:

Access Control & Policy Enforcement

Eunomia Policies: Fine-grained, policy-driven tool authorization. Supports none, local embedded (mcp_policies.json), or centralized remote modes.
OIDC Token Delegation: Compliant with RFC 8693 token exchange for flowing authenticating user credentials from Web UI / ACP → Agent → MCP.
Scoped Credentials: Execution context runs restricted to the specific caller identity.

Runtime Security Grid

Feature	Functionality	Enablement
Tool Guard	Sensitivity inspection with human-in-the-loop validation	Enabled by default
Prompt Injection Defense	Input scanning, repetition monitoring, and recursive loop blocks	Enabled by default
Context Safety Guard	Stuck-loop detectors and contextual overflow preemptive alerts	Enabled by default

Environment Variables

Package environment variables

Variable	Example	Description
`HOST`	`0.0.0.0`
`PORT`	`8000`
`TRANSPORT`	`stdio`	options: stdio, streamable-http, sse
`SEARCH_APPTOOL`	`true`	disable the searxng_search_app MCP App (ui:// search UI)
`ENABLE_OTEL`	`True`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	`http://localhost:8080/api/public/otel`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PUBLIC_KEY_REF`	`secret://telemetry/otlp-public-key`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_SECRET_KEY_REF`	`secret://telemetry/otlp-secret-key`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL`	`http/protobuf`
`EUNOMIA_TYPE`	`none`	options: none, embedded, remote
`EUNOMIA_POLICY_FILE`	`mcp_policies.json`
`EUNOMIA_REMOTE_URL`	`http://eunomia-server:8000`
`SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL`	—	Leave both empty to use the bundled/embedded SearXNG instance (default — see SEARXNG_EMBEDDED below). Set one to point at an external instance instead (e.g. the fleet's own http://searxng.arpa) — an explicit URL always wins over the embedded instance.
`SEARXNG_URL`	—
`SEARXNG_USERNAME`	—
`SEARXNG_PASSWORD`	secret-injected
`USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE`	`false`
`SEARXNG_KG_INGEST`	`true`
`SEARXNG_EMBEDDED`	`true`	Zero-config self-contained search: when SEARXNG_URL/SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL are unset, spawn+use a private, loopback-only SearXNG instance this MCP server owns (requires the `searxng-mcp[embedded]` extra; a silent no-op without it).
`XDG_CONFIG_HOME`	—	Where the embedded instance's user-editable settings.yml override lives: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/searxng-mcp/settings.yml. Defaults to ~/.config.

Inherited agent-utilities variables (apply to every connector)

Variable	Example	Description
`MCP_TOOL_MODE`	`intent`	Tool surface: `intent` \| `condensed` \| `verbose` \| `both`
`MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS`	—	Comma-separated tool allow-list
`MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS`	—	Comma-separated tool deny-list
`MCP_ENABLED_TAGS`	—	Comma-separated tag allow-list
`MCP_DISABLED_TAGS`	—	Comma-separated tag deny-list
`MCP_CLIENT_AUTH`	—	Outbound MCP child auth: `oidc-client-credentials` \| `basic` \| `none`
`OIDC_CLIENT_ID`	—	OIDC client id (service-account auth)
`OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_REF`	`secret://identity/oidc-client-secret`	Runtime secret reference for the OIDC service account
`MCP_BASIC_AUTH_USERNAME`	—	HTTP Basic username (`MCP_CLIENT_AUTH=basic`)
`MCP_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD_REF`	`secret://identity/mcp-basic-password`	Runtime secret reference for HTTP Basic auth (`MCP_CLIENT_AUTH=basic`)
`DEBUG`	`False`	Verbose logging
`PYTHONUNBUFFERED`	`1`	Unbuffered stdout (recommended in containers)
`MCP_URL`	`http://localhost:8000/mcp`	URL of the MCP server the agent connects to
`PROVIDER`	`openai`	LLM provider for the agent
`MODEL_ID`	`gpt-4o`	Model id for the agent
`ENABLE_WEB_UI`	`True`	Serve the AG-UI web interface

20 package + 16 inherited variable(s). Auto-generated from .env.example + the shared agent-utilities set — do not edit.

Every variable the server reads. See .env.example for a copy-paste starting point.

SearXNG connection

Variable	Description	Default
`SEARXNG_URL`	Base URL of the SearXNG instance to query	`http://localhost:8080`
`SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL`	Explicit instance URL override	—
`SEARXNG_USERNAME`	Basic-auth username for the SearXNG instance (if protected)	—
`SEARXNG_PASSWORD`	Basic-auth password for the SearXNG instance (if protected)	—
`USE_RANDOM_INSTANCE`	Pick a random public SearXNG instance instead of `SEARXNG_URL`	`false`
`SEARXNG_KG_INGEST`	Natively ingest each search result into the configured full knowledge-graph engine; failures are explicit	`true`
`SEARXNG_EMBEDDED`	Zero-config self-contained search: when `SEARXNG_URL`/`SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL` are unset, spawn+use a private, loopback-only SearXNG instance this server owns (requires `pip install searxng-mcp[embedded]`; a silent no-op without that extra installed)	`true`

MCP server / transport

Variable	Description	Default
`TRANSPORT`	`stdio`, `streamable-http`, or `sse`	`stdio`
`HOST`	Bind host (HTTP transports)	`0.0.0.0`
`PORT`	Bind port (HTTP transports)	`8000`
`MCP_TOOL_MODE`	Tool surface: `condensed`, `verbose`, or `both`	`condensed`
`MCP_ENABLED_TOOLS` / `MCP_DISABLED_TOOLS`	Comma-separated tool allow/deny list	—
`MCP_ENABLED_TAGS` / `MCP_DISABLED_TAGS`	Comma-separated tag allow/deny list	—

Telemetry & governance

Variable	Description	Default
`ENABLE_OTEL`	Enable OpenTelemetry export	`True`
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	OTLP collector endpoint	—
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PUBLIC_KEY` / `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_SECRET_KEY`	OTLP auth keys	—
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL`	OTLP protocol (e.g. `http/protobuf`)	—
`EUNOMIA_TYPE`	Authorization mode: `none`, `embedded`, `remote`	`none`
`EUNOMIA_POLICY_FILE`	Embedded policy file	`mcp_policies.json`
`EUNOMIA_REMOTE_URL`	Remote Eunomia server URL	—

Installation

Pick the extra that matches what you want to run:

Extra	Installs	Use when
`searxng-mcp[mcp]`	Connector-focused MCP server (`agent-utilities[mcp]` — FastMCP/FastAPI + `epistemic-graph[full]`)	You only run the MCP server (smallest install / image)
`searxng-mcp[agent]`	Agent runtime (`agent-utilities[agent-runtime,logfire]` — model orchestration + `epistemic-graph[full]`)	You run the integrated agent
`searxng-mcp[all]`	Everything (`mcp` + `agent` + `logfire`)	Development / both surfaces

# Connector-focused MCP server (includes the shared graph engine)
uv pip install "searxng-mcp[mcp]"

# Agent runtime (adds model orchestration to the shared graph engine)
uv pip install "searxng-mcp[agent]"

# Everything (development)
uv pip install "searxng-mcp[all]"      # or: python -m pip install "searxng-mcp[all]"

Container images (`:mcp` vs `:agent`)

One multi-stage docker/Dockerfile builds two right-sized images, selected by --target:

Image tag	Build target	Contents	Entrypoint
`example/searxng-mcp:mcp`	`--target mcp`	`searxng-mcp[mcp]` — connector-focused, includes `epistemic-graph[full]`; no model-orchestration stack	`searxng-mcp`
`example/searxng-mcp@sha256:<digest>`	`--target agent` (default)	`searxng-mcp[agent]` — agent runtime, model orchestration + `epistemic-graph[full]`	`searxng-agent`

docker build --target mcp   -t example/searxng-mcp:mcp    docker/   # connector-focused MCP server
docker build --target agent -t example/searxng-mcp:agent-local docker/   # agent runtime

docker/mcp.compose.yml runs the connector-focused :mcp server; docker/agent.compose.yml runs the agent (immutable agent digest) with a co-located :mcp sidecar.

Knowledge-graph database (`epistemic-graph`)

Both [mcp] and [agent] carry the epistemic-graph engine through the required Agent Utilities core dependency (epistemic-graph[full]). The [mcp] extra keeps the server connector-focused; [agent] additionally enables model orchestration. Local deployments can use the bundled engine. For production or shared state, run epistemic-graph as a dedicated database service and configure the runtime to use it. Deployment recipes (single-node + Raft HA), connection configuration, and architecture diagrams are documented in the epistemic-graph deployment guide.

Documentation

The complete documentation is published as the official documentation site and is the recommended reference for installation, deployment, and day-to-day operation.

Page	Contents
Installation	pip, source, extras, prebuilt Docker image
Deployment	run the MCP and agent servers, Compose, Caddy + Technitium, env config
Usage	the `web_search` tool, the Python API, the console scripts
Backing Platform	deploy SearXNG with Docker
Overview	ecosystem role and the standardized package pattern
Concepts	concept registry (`CONCEPT:SRX-*`)

AGENTS.md is the canonical contributor/agent guidance.

Repository Owners

Contribute

Contributions are welcome! Please ensure code quality by executing local checks before submitting pull requests:

Format code using ruff format .
Lint code using ruff check .
Validate type-safety with mypy .
Execute test suites using pytest

Deploy with `agent-utilities-deployment`

Provision this package with the consolidated agent-utilities-deployment workflow. It selects an installed-package, editable-source, or immutable-container path; records only runtime secret and TLS-profile references in AgentConfig; and runs doctor, registration, policy, observability, and rollback gates. Ask your agent to "deploy searxng-mcp with agent-utilities-deployment".

Install mode	Command
Installed package	`uv tool install "searxng-mcp[mcp]"`, then run `searxng-mcp`
Editable source	`uv pip install -e ".[agent]"`, then run `searxng-mcp`
Immutable container	deploy `registry.example.invalid/searxng-mcp@sha256:<digest>` through the operator-selected orchestrator

The repository embeds no deployment profile, credential value, certificate path, or environment-specific endpoint. Supply those at runtime through AgentConfig and the configured secret provider.

Governed capability contract

This package ships a compact canonical skill surface with specialist procedures kept as referenced workflows. The current MCP tools, skill metadata, connector_manifest.yml, ontology, mappings, shapes, fixtures, migrations, tool-schema fingerprints, and certification metadata form one versioned capability contract. Validate them together; do not rely on stale tool names or historical per-task skill wrappers.

Runtime endpoints, credentials, certificate trust, tenant identity, retention, and observability policy are deployment inputs and are never packaged values. See Configuration, trust, and privacy before enabling a network transport, connector ingestion, GraphOS delegation, or trace export.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.security		.security
.specify		.specify
docker		docker
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
searxng_mcp		searxng_mcp
tests		tests
.bumpversion.cfg		.bumpversion.cfg
.codespellignore		.codespellignore
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.env.example		.env.example
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.in		MANIFEST.in
README.md		README.md
connector_manifest.yml		connector_manifest.yml
mcp_config.json		mcp_config.json
mkdocs.yml		mkdocs.yml
opencode.json		opencode.json
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
pytest.ini		pytest.ini
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
settings.yml		settings.yml
uv.lock		uv.lock

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Searxng Mcp

CLI or API | MCP | Agent

Overview

Key Features

CLI or API

MCP

Available MCP Tools

Condensed action-routed tools (MCP_TOOL_MODE=condensed)

Dynamic Tool Selection & Visibility

MCP Configuration Examples

stdio Transport (local IDEs — Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code)

Streamable-HTTP Transport (networked / production)

Additional Deployment Options

Agent

Running the Agent CLI

Docker Compose Orchestration

Security & Governance

Access Control & Policy Enforcement

Runtime Security Grid

Environment Variables

Package environment variables

Inherited agent-utilities variables (apply to every connector)

SearXNG connection

MCP server / transport

Telemetry & governance

Installation

Container images (:mcp vs :agent)

Knowledge-graph database (epistemic-graph)

Documentation

Repository Owners

Contribute

Deploy with agent-utilities-deployment

Governed capability contract

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Condensed action-routed tools (`MCP_TOOL_MODE=condensed`)

Container images (`:mcp` vs `:agent`)

Knowledge-graph database (`epistemic-graph`)

Deploy with `agent-utilities-deployment`