MCP Server

An MCP server that queries public SearXNG instances, parsing HTML contents into a JSON result

Remote serverstreamable-http

What is the MCP MCP server?

An MCP server that queries public SearXNG instances, parsing HTML contents into a JSON result. That is what the mcp mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.

The short version

All the MCP servers for SearXNG that I've seen use "json" as the output format. While that is certainly a faster way to code a SearXNG MCP server, it will make it fail on virtually all public servers since they don't expose the JSON format.

Getting it running

Because this one is hosted, setup is mostly authentication — you point your client at the endpoint and approve access. Nothing runs on your machine, so there is no runtime to keep patched.

The tools it exposes

The server publishes 1 tool. What each one is for:

  • query — the search query

What it needs from you

Configuration is passed through the environment: SEARXNG_BASE_URL, DEFAULT_LANGUAGE. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.

Things to watch

  • Your data travels to the provider's service, so the usual questions apply about what you send and what they retain.
  • Missing credentials fail quietly in some clients — if no tools show up, check the environment block first.
  • Keep per-call confirmation enabled while you learn its behaviour; it is the cheapest safeguard you have.

How it compares

This sits in the developer tooling group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. MCP's toolset — query — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by ilintar; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
querythe search query

How to install the MCP MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searxng-public": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-searxng-public"],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_BASE_URL": "your-value",
        "DEFAULT_LANGUAGE": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.

Configuration

VariableDescriptionRequired
SEARXNG_BASE_URLEndpoint or connection string the server talks to.Yes
DEFAULT_LANGUAGEConfiguration value read at startup.Optional

Example prompts to try

  • Use MCP to query.

Frequently asked questions

It connects MCP to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 1 tool (query) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with MCP directly.