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# Step by step installation

In this section we show the setup of a SearXNG instance that will be installed by the Installation Script.

## Install packages

    $ sudo -H apt-get install -y \
        python3-dev python3-babel python3-venv python-is-python3 \
        uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3 \
        git build-essential libxslt-dev zlib1g-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev

    $ sudo -H pacman -S --noconfirm \
        python python-pip python-lxml python-babel \
        uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python \
        git base-devel libxml2

    $ sudo -H dnf install -y \
        python python-pip python-lxml python-babel python3-devel \
        uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3 \
        git @development-tools libxml2 openssl

Hint

This installs also the packages needed by uWSGI

## Create user

    $ sudo -H useradd --shell /bin/bash --system \
        --home-dir "/usr/local/searxng" \
        --comment 'Privacy-respecting metasearch engine' \
        searxng

    $ sudo -H mkdir "/usr/local/searxng"
    $ sudo -H chown -R "searxng:searxng" "/usr/local/searxng"

## Install SearXNG & dependencies

Start a interactive shell from new created user and clone SearXNG:

    $ sudo -H -u searxng -i
    (searxng)$ git clone "https://github.com/searxng/searxng" \
                       "/usr/local/searxng/searxng-src"

In the same shell create virtualenv:

    (searxng)$ python3 -m venv "/usr/local/searxng/searx-pyenv"
    (searxng)$ echo ". /usr/local/searxng/searx-pyenv/bin/activate" \
                       >>  "/usr/local/searxng/.profile"

To install SearXNG’s dependencies, exit the SearXNG bash session you opened above and start a new one. Before installing, check if your virtualenv was sourced from the login (~/.profile):

    $ sudo -H -u searxng -i

    (searxng)$ command -v python && python --version
    /usr/local/searxng/searx-pyenv/bin/python
    Python 3.11.10

    # update pip's boilerplate ..
    pip install -U pip
    pip install -U setuptools
    pip install -U wheel

    # additional packages required for installation
    pip install -U pyyaml
    pip install -U msgspec
    pip install -U typing-extensions
    pip install -U pybind11

    # jump to SearXNG's working tree and install SearXNG into virtualenv
    (searxng)$ cd "/usr/local/searxng/searxng-src"
    (searxng)$ pip install --use-pep517 --no-build-isolation -e .

Tip

Open a second terminal for the configuration tasks and leave the `(searx)$` terminal open for the tasks below.

## Configuration

To create a initial `/etc/searxng/settings.yml` we recommend to start with a copy of the file git://utils/templates/etc/searxng/settings.yml. This setup use default settings from git://searx/settings.yml and is shown in the tab “Use default settings” below. This setup:

- enables limiter to protect against bots

- enables image proxy for better privacy

Modify the `/etc/searxng/settings.yml` to your needs:

    # SearXNG settings

    use_default_settings: true

    general:
      debug: false
      instance_name: "SearXNG"

    search:
      safe_search: 2
      autocomplete: 'duckduckgo'
      formats:
        - html

    server:
      # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_SECRET}
      secret_key: "ultrasecretkey"
      limiter: true
      image_proxy: true
      # public URL of the instance, to ensure correct inbound links. Is overwritten
      # by ${SEARXNG_BASE_URL}.
      # base_url: http://example.com/location

    valkey:
      # URL to connect valkey database. Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_VALKEY_URL}.
      url: valkey://localhost:6379/0

To see the entire file jump to git://utils/templates/etc/searxng/settings.yml

    general:
      # Debug mode, only for development. Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_DEBUG}
      debug: false
      # displayed name
      instance_name: "SearXNG"
      # For example: https://example.com/privacy
      privacypolicy_url: false
      # use true to use your own donation page written in searx/info/en/donate.md
      # use false to disable the donation link
      donation_url: false
      # mailto:contact@example.com
      contact_url: false
      # record stats
      enable_metrics: true
      # expose stats in open metrics format at /metrics
      # leave empty to disable (no password set)
      # open_metrics: <password>
      open_metrics: ''

    brand:
      docs_url: https://docs.searxng.org/
      public_instances: https://searx.space
      wiki_url: https://github.com/searxng/searxng/wiki
      issue_url: https://github.com/searxng/searxng/issues
      # custom:
      #   # Custom entries in the footer: [title]: [link]
      #   links:
      #     Uptime: https://uptime.searxng.org/history/darmarit-org
      #     About: "https://searxng.org"
      # pwa_colors:
      #   # Custom settings for PWA icon an colors used in manifest.json
      #   # Default colors are:
      #    theme_color_light: "#3050ff"
      #    background_color_light: "fff"
      #    theme_color_dark: "#58f"
      #    background_color_dark: "#222428"
      #    theme_color_black: "#3050ff"
      #    background_color_black: "#000"

    search:
      # Filter results. 0: None, 1: Moderate, 2: Strict
      safe_search: 0
      # Existing autocomplete backends: "360search", "baidu", "bing", "brave", "dbpedia", "duckduckgo", "google",
      # "yandex", "mwmbl", "naver", "seznam", "sogou", "startpage", "swisscows", "quark", "qwant", "wikipedia" -
      # leave blank to turn it off by default.
      autocomplete: ""
      # minimun characters to type before autocompleter starts
      autocomplete_min: 4
      # backend for the favicon near URL in search results.
      # Available resolvers: "allesedv", "duckduckgo", "google", "yandex" - leave blank to turn it off by default.
      favicon_resolver: ""
      # Default search language - leave blank to detect from browser information or
      # use codes from 'languages.py'
      default_lang: "auto"
      # max_page: 0  # if engine supports paging, 0 means unlimited numbers of pages
      # Available languages
      # languages:
      #   - all
      #   - en
      #   - en-US
      #   - de
      #   - it-IT
      #   - fr
      #   - fr-BE
      # ban time in seconds after engine errors
      ban_time_on_fail: 5
      # max ban time in seconds after engine errors
      max_ban_time_on_fail: 120
      suspended_times:
        # Engine suspension time after error (in seconds; set to 0 to disable)
        # For error "Access denied" and "HTTP error [402, 403]"
        SearxEngineAccessDenied: 180
        # For error "CAPTCHA"
        SearxEngineCaptcha: 3600
        # For error "Too many request" and "HTTP error 429"
        SearxEngineTooManyRequests: 180
        # Cloudflare CAPTCHA
        cf_SearxEngineCaptcha: 1296000
        cf_SearxEngineAccessDenied: 86400
        # ReCAPTCHA
        recaptcha_SearxEngineCaptcha: 604800

      # remove format to deny access, use lower case.
      # formats: [html, csv, json, rss]
      formats:
        - html

    server:
      # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_PORT} and ${SEARXNG_BIND_ADDRESS}
      port: 8888
      bind_address: "127.0.0.1"
      # public URL of the instance, to ensure correct inbound links. Is overwritten
      # by ${SEARXNG_BASE_URL}.
      base_url: false  # "http://example.com/location"
      # rate limit the number of request on the instance, block some bots.
      # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_LIMITER}
      limiter: false
      # enable features designed only for public instances.
      # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_PUBLIC_INSTANCE}
      public_instance: false

      # If your instance owns a /etc/searxng/settings.yml file, then set the following
      # values there.

      secret_key: "ultrasecretkey"  # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_SECRET}
      # Proxy image results through SearXNG. Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_IMAGE_PROXY}
      image_proxy: false
      # 1.0 and 1.1 are supported
      http_protocol_version: "1.0"
      # POST queries are "more secure!" but are also the source of hard-to-locate
      # annoyances, which is why GET may be better for end users and their browsers.
      # see https://github.com/searxng/searxng/pull/3619
      # Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_METHOD}
      method: "POST"
      default_http_headers:
        X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
        X-Download-Options: noopen
        X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow
        Referrer-Policy: no-referrer

    valkey:
      # URL to connect valkey database. Is overwritten by ${SEARXNG_VALKEY_URL}.
      # https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_valkey.html#settings-valkey
      # url: valkey://localhost:6379/0
      url: false

    ui:
      # Custom static path - leave it blank if you didn't change
      static_path: ""
      # Custom templates path - leave it blank if you didn't change
      templates_path: ""
      # query_in_title: When true, the result page's titles contains the query
      # it decreases the privacy, since the browser can records the page titles.
      query_in_title: false
      # ui theme
      default_theme: simple
      # center the results ?
      center_alignment: false
      # URL prefix of the internet archive, don't forget trailing slash (if needed).
      # cache_url: "https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:"
      # Default interface locale - leave blank to detect from browser information or
      # use codes from the 'locales' config section
      default_locale: ""
      # Open result links in a new tab by default
      # results_on_new_tab: false
      theme_args:
        # style of simple theme: auto, light, dark, black
        simple_style: auto
      # Perform search immediately if a category selected.
      # Disable to select multiple categories at once and start the search manually.
      search_on_category_select: true
      # Hotkeys: default or vim
      hotkeys: default
      # URL formatting: pretty, full or host
      url_formatting: pretty

    preferences:
      # Lock arbitrary settings on the preferences page.
      lock: []
    #     - categories
    #     - language
    #     - autocomplete
    #     - favicon_resolver
    #     - safesearch
    #     - method
    #     - doi_resolver
    #     - locale
    #     - theme
    #     - results_on_new_tab
    #     - search_on_category_select
    #     - method
    #     - image_proxy
    #     - query_in_title

    # communication with search engines
    #
    outgoing:
      # default timeout in seconds, can be override by engine
      request_timeout: 3.0
      # the maximum timeout in seconds
      # max_request_timeout: 10.0
      # suffix of searxng_useragent, could contain information like an email address
      # to the administrator
      useragent_suffix: ""
      # The maximum number of concurrent connections that may be established.
      pool_connections: 100
      # Allow the connection pool to maintain keep-alive connections below this
      # point.
      pool_maxsize: 20
      # See https://www.python-httpx.org/http2/
      enable_http2: true
      # uncomment below section if you want to use a custom server certificate
      # see https://www.python-httpx.org/advanced/#changing-the-verification-defaults
      # and https://www.python-httpx.org/compatibility/#ssl-configuration
      #  verify: ~/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.cer
      #
      # uncomment below section if you want to use a proxyq see: SOCKS proxies
      #   https://2.python-requests.org/en/latest/user/advanced/#proxies
      # are also supported: see
      #   https://2.python-requests.org/en/latest/user/advanced/#socks
      #
      #  proxies:
      #    all://:
      #      - http://proxy1:8080
      #      - http://proxy2:8080
      #
      #  using_tor_proxy: true
      #
      # Extra seconds to add in order to account for the time taken by the proxy
      #
      #  extra_proxy_timeout: 10
      #
      # uncomment below section only if you have more than one network interface
      # which can be the source of outgoing search requests
      #
      #  source_ips:
      #    - 1.1.1.1
      #    - 1.1.1.2
      #    - fe80::/126

    # Plugin configuration, for more details see
    #   https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_plugins.html
    #
    plugins:

      searx.plugins.calculator.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.infinite_scroll.SXNGPlugin:
        active: false

      searx.plugins.hash_plugin.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.self_info.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.unit_converter.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.ahmia_filter.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.hostnames.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.time_zone.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

      searx.plugins.oa_doi_rewrite.SXNGPlugin:
        active: false

      searx.plugins.tor_check.SXNGPlugin:
        active: false

      searx.plugins.tracker_url_remover.SXNGPlugin:
        active: true

    # Configuration of the "Hostnames plugin":
    #

To see the entire file jump to git://searx/settings.yml

For a minimal setup you need to set `server:secret_key`.

    $ sudo -H mkdir -p "/etc/searxng"
    $ sudo -H cp "/usr/local/searxng/searxng-src/utils/templates/etc/searxng/settings.yml" \
                 "/etc/searxng/settings.yml"

    $ sudo -H sed -i -e "s/ultrasecretkey/$(openssl rand -hex 16)/g" \
                  "/etc/searxng/settings.yml"

## Check

To check your SearXNG setup, optional enable debugging and start the webapp. SearXNG looks at the exported environment `$SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH` for a configuration file.

    # enable debug ..
    $ sudo -H sed -i -e "s/debug : False/debug : True/g" "/etc/searxng/settings.yml"

    # start webapp
    $ sudo -H -u searxng -i
    (searxng)$ cd /usr/local/searxng/searxng-src
    (searxng)$ export SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH="/etc/searxng/settings.yml"
    (searxng)$ python -m searx.webapp

    # disable debug
    $ sudo -H sed -i -e "s/debug : True/debug : False/g" "/etc/searxng/settings.yml"

Open WEB browser and visit http://127.0.0.1:8888 . If you are inside a container or in a script, test with curl:

    $ xdg-open http://127.0.0.1:8888

    $ curl --location --verbose --head --insecure 127.0.0.1:8888

    *   Trying 127.0.0.1:8888...
    * TCP_NODELAY set
    * Connected to 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1) port 8888 (#0)
    > HEAD / HTTP/1.1
    > Host: 127.0.0.1:8888
    > User-Agent: curl/7.68.0
    > Accept: */*
    >
    * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    * HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
    < HTTP/1.0 200 OK
    HTTP/1.0 200 OK
    ...

If everything works fine, hit `[CTRL-C]` to stop the webapp and disable the debug option in `settings.yml`. You can now exit SearXNG user bash session (enter exit command twice). At this point SearXNG is not demonized; uwsgi allows this.