MCP Searxng Enhanced MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for category-aware web search, website scraping, and date/time tools. Designed for seamless integration with

Remote serverstreamable-httpPython

What is the MCP Searxng Enhanced MCP server?

If you want an AI assistant working directly with MCP Searxng Enhanced, the mcp searxng enhanced mcp server is the bridge. A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for category-aware web search, website scraping, and date/time tools. Designed for seamless integration with SearXNG and modern MCP clients.

What MCP Searxng Enhanced does

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for category-aware web search, website scraping, and date/time tools. Designed for seamless integration with SearXNG and modern MCP clients.

Key capabilities

  • 🔍 SearXNG-powered web search with category support (general, images, videos, files, map, social media)
  • 📄 Website content scraping with citation metadata and automatic Reddit URL conversion
  • 📜 Intial PDF reading support with a conversion to Markdown using PyMuPDF/PyMuPDF4LLM
  • 💾 In-memory caching with automatic freshness validation
  • 🚦 Domain-based rate limiting to prevent service abuse
  • 🕒 Timezone-aware date/time tool
  • ⚠️ Robust error handling with custom exception types
  • 🐳 Dockerized and configurable via environment variables

Tools it exposes

Once connected, the assistant can call these 4 tools directly:

  • search_web — Web search via SearXNG
  • get_website — Scrape website content
  • get_current_datetime — Current date/time
  • Prerequisites — The Prerequisites tool exposed by this server

Installing the mcp searxng enhanced mcp server

Setup follows the standard MCP pattern: clone or install the server, then register it in your client's configuration file and restart the client. The configuration snippets on this page cover Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor.

Configuration

Before the server will start you need to supply 4 environment variables: SEARXNG_ENGINE_API_BASE_URL, DESIRED_TIMEZONE, ODS_CONFIG_PATH, MCP_HTTP_HOST. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than committing them.

Requirements

  • Docker installed on your system - A running SearXNG instance (self-hosted or accessible endpoint)

Where it fits

Search and scraping servers exist to fix the single most common failure of any assistant: answering from stale training data instead of what is on the web today. MCP Searxng Enhanced sits in that group, and the shape of its toolset — search_web, get_website, get_current_datetime among others — tells you what it is really for. Worth comparing against the other search web scraping servers in this directory before you commit to one, since several overlap in scope but differ sharply in setup cost and permissions.

Practical notes

  • This is a hosted server — you point your client at an endpoint rather than running a local process, so there is nothing to keep updated on your machine.
  • It will not start until its required credentials are present, so set those before wondering why the tools never appear.
  • Maintained by OvertliDS, written in Python.
  • MCP clients ask for confirmation before each tool call by default. Keep that on while you learn what the mcp searxng enhanced mcp server actually does with your data.
  • Every entry in this directory is reviewed by hand before it goes live, and details are checked against the project's own documentation.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
search_webWeb search via SearXNG
get_websiteScrape website content
get_current_datetimeCurrent date/time
PrerequisitesThe Prerequisites tool exposed by this server.

How to install the MCP Searxng Enhanced MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "overtlids/mcp-searxng-enhanced": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm", "--network=host",
        "-e", "SEARXNG_ENGINE_API_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:8080/search",
        "-e", "DESIRED_TIMEZONE=America/New_York",
        "-e", "ODS_CONFIG_PATH=/config/ods_config.json",
        "-e", "RETURNED_SCRAPPED_PAGES_NO=3",
        "-e", "SCRAPPED_PAGES_NO=5",
        "-e", "PAGE_CONTENT_WORDS_LIMIT=5000",
        "-e", "CITATION_LINKS=True",
        "-e", "MAX_IMAGE_RESULTS=10",
        "-e", "MAX_VIDEO_RESULTS=10",
        "-e", "MAX_FILE_RESULTS=5",
        "-e", "MAX_MAP_RESULTS=5",
        "-e", "MAX_SOCIAL_RESULTS=5",
        "-e", "TRAFILATURA_TIMEOUT=15",
        "-e", "SCRAPING_TIMEOUT=20",
        "-e", "CACHE_MAXSIZE=100",
        "-e", "CACHE_TTL_MINUTES=5",
        "-e", "CACHE_MAX_AGE_MINUTES=30",
        "-e", "RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE=10",
        "-e", "RATE_LIMIT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=60",
        "-e", "IGNORED_WEBSITES=",
        "overtlids/mcp-searxng-enhanced:latest"
      ],
      "timeout": 60
    }
  }
}

Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.

Configuration

  • Docker installed on your system - A running SearXNG instance (self-hosted or accessible endpoint)
VariableDescriptionRequired
SEARXNG_ENGINE_API_BASE_URLEndpoint or connection string the server talks to.Yes
DESIRED_TIMEZONEConfiguration value read at startup.Optional
ODS_CONFIG_PATHFilesystem location the server is allowed to use.Optional
MCP_HTTP_HOSTEndpoint or connection string the server talks to.Optional

Example prompts to try

  • Use MCP Searxng Enhanced to search web.
  • Use MCP Searxng Enhanced to get website.
  • Use MCP Searxng Enhanced to get current datetime.

Frequently asked questions

It connects MCP Searxng Enhanced to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 4 tools (search_web, get_website, get_current_datetime, and more) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with MCP Searxng Enhanced directly.