SearXNG

SearXNG is a free, open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and dozens of other sources. By running your own instance, lynox gets unlimited web search — no API key, no monthly limits, no cost.

How It Fits In

lynox has two independent web search mechanisms:

1. Anthropic built-in web_search — server-side, automatic, only with Anthropic direct API
2. web_research tool — client-side, works with all LLM providers (SearXNG or Tavily)

Both can coexist — the model chooses which to use.

For the web_research tool, SearXNG is the default when configured. If you set up a SearXNG instance and provide the URL, lynox uses it — even if you also have a Tavily API key. This is intentional: setting up SearXNG is a deliberate choice, and it’s unlimited.

Config	web_research provider
SearXNG URL configured	SearXNG (default when present)
SearXNG URL + search_provider: 'tavily'	Tavily (explicit override)
Only Tavily API key	Tavily
Nothing	No web_research tool

Tip

Anthropic users get web_search automatically — web_research via SearXNG is an additional tool, not a replacement.

Setup

Docker Compose (default — no setup needed)

SearXNG is included in the standard docker-compose.yml. Just run:

docker compose up -d

Web search works immediately. Verify in the Web UI under Settings → Integrations — the SearXNG card shows “Connected”.

Standalone (for npx or single-container users only)

Tip

If you use Docker Compose, SearXNG is already included. No setup needed — skip this section.

If you’re not using docker-compose, start SearXNG separately:

docker run -d --name searxng -p 8888:8080 searxng/searxng:latest

Then configure lynox:

Via Web UI: Settings → Integrations → SearXNG. Enter the URL and test the connection.

Via environment variable or config:

export SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8888

Docker Compose

SearXNG is included and active by default in the standard docker-compose.yml. No extra setup needed — just docker compose up.

lynox ships a pre-configured searxng/settings.yml with optimized engines:

• General: Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Wikipedia, Wikidata
• News: Google News, DuckDuckGo News, Bing News
• Science: Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, arXiv
• IT: GitHub, StackOverflow, npm, PyPI

Tip

SearXNG doesn’t need to be exposed to the internet — only lynox needs to reach it on the internal Docker network.

Comparison

	Anthropic Built-in	Tavily	SearXNG
Cost	Included	Free tier, then paid	Free
API key required	No	Yes	No
Providers	Anthropic only	All	All
Content extraction	Deep (full page)	Deep (raw_content)	Auto-enriched (top 3 results)
Quality	High (Claude-optimized)	High (AI-optimized)	High (enriched + multi-engine)
Setup	Zero	Account creation	Docker container
Rate limits	API rate limits	1,000/month free	Unlimited

Content enrichment: lynox automatically fetches full page content for the top 3 search results using its built-in content extractor (Readability-based). This closes the quality gap to Tavily. A 10-second timeout ensures search stays responsive even when pages are slow.

Search Categories

The web_research tool supports topic-based search:

Topic	SearXNG Category	Engines
general	(default)	Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Wikipedia
news	news	Google News, DuckDuckGo News, Bing News
science	science	Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, arXiv
it	it	GitHub, StackOverflow, npm, PyPI
finance	(general)	Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing + currency engine

Customizing

Edit searxng/settings.yml in the repo to:

• Add/remove engines — see use_default_settings.engines.keep_only
• Change language — search.default_lang (default: auto)
• Adjust timeout — outgoing.request_timeout (default: 5s)

See the SearXNG documentation for all options.