searxng

name	searxng
description	Use for general web meta-search via a local SearXNG instance when broad multi-engine web coverage is needed and SEARXNG_URL is configured.
version	1
languages	["en","zh","mixed"]
methods	[{"id":"api_search","impl":"methods/api_search.py","requires":["env:SEARXNG_URL"],"rate_limit":{"per_min":30,"per_hour":1000}}]
fallback_chain	["api_search"]
when_to_use	{"query_languages":["en","zh","mixed"],"query_types":["web","news","general","broad-coverage"],"avoid_for":["academic","chinese-ugc-specific","video"]}
quality_hint	{"typical_yield":"medium","chinese_native":false}
layer	leaf
domains	["generic-web"]
scenarios	["broad-web-search","news","general-research"]
model_tier	Fast

Overview

SearXNG is a self-hosted meta-search engine aggregating results from 70+ sources (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.). Requires a local SearXNG instance reachable at SEARXNG_URL (default: http://localhost:8080). Free, no external API key.

When to Choose It

• Broad web coverage without a specific platform focus
• News and current events research
• Fallback when other channels return insufficient results

How To Search

POST/GET to $SEARXNG_URL/search?q=<query>&format=json.

Quality Bar

• Evidence items have non-empty title and url.
• No crash on empty or malformed API response.
• Source channel field matches the channel name.