searxng-search

name	searxng-search
description	Use the locally-running SearXNG instance (http://127.0.0.1:8888) as a privacy-friendly meta-search engine and return concise results with titles, URLs, and snippets.

SearXNG Search Skill

Purpose

Run web searches via the local SearXNG instance that is set up in this workspace.

• Service URL: http://127.0.0.1:8888
• JSON endpoint: /search?q=...&format=json

When to use

Trigger this skill when the user asks to:

• “search the web” / “look this up” / “find links about …”
• “use searxng” / “search with searxng”
• Anything that implies using a privacy-friendly search engine.

Preconditions

1. SearXNG should be running.

   • Start it with:
     • /Users/ericblue/clawd/services/searxng/start.sh
   • If it’s not running, start it in the background.

2. Health check:

   • curl -sS 'http://127.0.0.1:8888/search?q=test&format=json' should return JSON.

How to execute a search

Preferred method (stable formatting): run the helper script:

python3 /Users/ericblue/clawd/skills/public/searxng-search/scripts/searxng_search.py --q "YOUR QUERY" --n 5

Parameters:

• --q (required): query string
• --n (optional): number of results (default 5)
• --categories (optional): SearXNG categories, comma-separated (e.g. general,science)
• --lang (optional): language code (e.g. en)

Output format (chat)

Return:

• A tight bullet list of the top results: Title + URL, then a short snippet line.
• If the user asked for “sources”, include 5–10 links.

Notes / limitations

• This is a meta-search; results depend on upstream engines and may occasionally error.
• If SearXNG is down, restart it and retry once before asking the user.