| 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.
