---
type: concept
title: SearXNG Tuning
description: Configuration decisions for a fast, private, useful self-hosted SearXNG instance.
tags:
  - searxng
  - search
  - privacy
  - configuration
  - unverified
verified: 2026-08-28
timestamp: 2026-08-11
resource: https://docs.searxng.org
---

# SearXNG Tuning

SearXNG is a metasearch engine. It aggregates 274 or more upstream search services into one result set. Configuration lives in `settings.yml`. The recommended deployment is Docker Compose with a Valkey container.

This page lists the settings that matter for speed, privacy, and useful results.

> **Your setup:** Pi Web Access calls a remote SearXNG at [`192.168.0.143:8081`](../pi/packages/pi-web-access.md) (dankclaw). Apply these settings to that host, not to this machine.

## Plan the Deployment

```mermaid
graph LR
    A[Browser or Agent] --> B[SearXNG container]
    B --> C[Valkey cache + limiter]
    B --> D[Engine request pool]
    D --> E[Google News]
    D --> F[DuckDuckGo]
    D --> G[Wikipedia]
```

Deploy with the official Docker Compose file. It ships a `searxng-valkey` container (`valkey/valkey:9-alpine`). Valkey replaced Redis as the default cache. Mount your config at `./core-config/:/etc/searxng`.

```yaml
services:
  searxng:
    image: docker.io/searxng/searxng:latest
    ports:
      - "8081:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./core-config/:/etc/searxng/:Z
    depends_on:
      - searxng-valkey

  searxng-valkey:
    image: docker.io/valkey/valkey:9-alpine
    restart: always
```

## Core Settings

```yaml
use_default_settings: true
server:
  secret_key: "change-this"   # or $SEARXNG_SECRET
  base_url: "http://192.168.0.143:8081/"   # or $SEARXNG_BASE_URL
  limiter: true
  method: "POST"

search:
  default_lang: "en"
  default_locale: "en-US"
  safe_search: 0
  formats:
    - html
    - json
```

Change `secret_key`. Set `base_url` to the public address. Use `POST` for privacy. Enable the `json` format for the agent.

## Rate Limiting

Enable the limiter and point it at Valkey. Without a limiter, an upstream engine can block SearXNG's IP.

```yaml
server:
  limiter: true

valkey:
  url: valkey://searxng-valkey:6379/0
```

The limiter uses a sliding window per IP:

| Window | HTML limit | JSON/API limit |
|--------|-----------|----------------|
| 20 seconds | 15 | 4 per 3600 s |
| 600 seconds | 150 | 4 per 3600 s |

Suspicious IPs get a much lower budget (2 in 20 s, 10 in 600 s). The agent that hits the JSON endpoint repeatedly can trip the 4-per-hour API limit. Back off or make the agent part of a trusted group.

## Outgoing Pool

```yaml
outgoing:
  request_timeout: 3.0
  max_request_timeout: 10.0
  pool_connections: 100
  pool_maxsize: 20
  enable_http2: true
  keepalive_expiry: 5.0
  retries: 3
```

A short `request_timeout` keeps results snappy. `enable_http2` multiplexes connections. More `retries` makes results more reliable but slower.

## Engine Selection

Default engine state (current SearXNG):

| Engine | Default state | Note |
|--------|---------------|------|
| DuckDuckGo | Enabled | Reliable general search |
| Wikipedia | Enabled | Encyclopedia lookups |
| Google News | Enabled | News results |
| Google (main) | Inactive | Cloudflare CAPTCHA often blocks it |
| Bing | Disabled | Blocked upstream |

Keep only the engines you need. Fewer engines means faster responses.

```yaml
use_default_settings:
  engines:
    keep_only:
      - duckduckgo
      - wikipedia
      - google news
```

Make an engine private to one agent with a token:

```yaml
engines:
  - name: arch wiki
    engine: archlinux
    tokens: ['my-secret-token']
```

## Useful Plugins

```yaml
plugins:
  searx.plugins.unit_converter.SXNGPlugin:
    active: true
  searx.plugins.calculator.SXNGPlugin:
    active: true
  searx.plugins.self_info.SXNGPlugin:
    active: true
```

The hostnames plugin filters or rewrites results. It needs a separate `hostnames:` block:

```yaml
hostnames:
  remove:
    - '(.*\.)?facebook.com$'
  high_priority:
    - '(.*\.)?wikipedia.org$'
```

## JSON API for the Agent

The agent uses the JSON format. Confirm that it returns structured data:

```bash
curl 'http://192.168.0.143:8081/search?q=test&format=json'
```

The response contains `results`, `query`, `number_of_results`, and `suggestions`. The `/config` endpoint lists engine availability.

## Verify the Instance

1. Open the HTML interface and run a test query.
2. Confirm that the `json` format returns data.
3. Confirm that the limiter page appears on rapid repeats.

## Citations

- SearXNG documentation: <https://docs.searxng.org>
- SearXNG outgoing settings: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_outgoing.html>
- SearXNG engine settings: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_engines.html>
- SearXNG Valkey settings: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_valkey.html>
- SearXNG limiter: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/searx.limiter.html>
- SearXNG plugins: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/settings/settings_plugins.html>
- Docker Compose install: <https://docs.searxng.org/admin/installation-docker.html>

## See Also

- [VPN Routing for SearXNG](vpn-routing.md) — Route the outbound path through a VPN.
- [Agentic Search Best Practices](agentic-search-best-practices.md) — Use the JSON format well.