.. _search API:

========== Search API

SearXNG supports querying via a simple HTTP API. Two endpoints, / and /search, are supported for both GET and POST methods. The GET method expects parameters as URL query parameters, while the POST method expects parameters as form data.

If you want to consume the results as JSON, CSV, or RSS, you need to set the format parameter accordingly. Supported formats are defined in settings.yml, under the search section. Requesting an unset format will return a 403 Forbidden error. Be aware that many public instances have these formats disabled.

Endpoints:

GET / GET /search

POST / POST /search

example cURL calls:

.. code-block:: bash

curl 'https://searx.example.org/search?q=searxng&format=json'

curl -X POST 'https://searx.example.org/search' -d 'q=searxng&format=csv'

curl -L -X POST -d 'q=searxng&format=json' 'https://searx.example.org/'

Parameters

.. sidebar:: Further reading ..

• :ref:engines-dev
• :ref:settings.yml
• :ref:configured engines

q : required The search query. This string is passed to external search services. Thus, SearXNG supports syntax of each search service. For example, site:github.com SearXNG is a valid query for Google. However, if simply the query above is passed to any search engine which does not filter its results based on this syntax, you might not get the results you wanted.

See more at :ref:search-syntax

categories : optional Comma separated list, specifies the active search categories (see :ref:configured engines)

engines : optional Comma separated list, specifies the active search engines (see :ref:configured engines).

language : default from :ref:settings search Code of the language.

pageno : default 1 Search page number.

time_range : optional [ day, month, year ]

Time range of search for engines which support it. See if an engine supports time range search in the preferences page of an instance.

format : optional [ json, csv, rss ]

Output format of results. Format needs to be activated in :ref:settings search.

results_on_new_tab : default 0 [ 0, 1 ]

Open search results on new tab.

image_proxy : default from :ref:settings server [ True, False ]

Proxy image results through SearXNG.

autocomplete : default from :ref:settings search [ google, dbpedia, duckduckgo, mwmbl, startpage, wikipedia, swisscows, qwant ]

Service which completes words as you type.

safesearch : default from :ref:settings search [ 0, 1, 2 ]

Filter search results of engines which support safe search. See if an engine supports safe search in the preferences page of an instance.

theme : default simple [ simple ]

Theme of instance.

Please note, available themes depend on an instance. It is possible that an instance administrator deleted, created or renamed themes on their instance. See the available options in the preferences page of the instance.

enabled_plugins : optional List of enabled plugins.

:default: Hash_plugin, Self_Information, Tracker_URL_remover, Ahmia_blacklist

:values: .. enabled by default

 ``Hash_plugin``, ``Self_Information``,
 ``Tracker_URL_remover``, ``Ahmia_blacklist``,

 .. disabled by default

 ``Hostnames_plugin``, ``Open_Access_DOI_rewrite``,
 ``Vim-like_hotkeys``, ``Tor_check_plugin``

disabled_plugins: optional List of disabled plugins.

:default: Hostnames_plugin, Open_Access_DOI_rewrite, Vim-like_hotkeys, Tor_check_plugin

:values: see values from enabled_plugins

enabled_engines : optional : all :origin:engines <searx/engines> List of enabled engines.

disabled_engines : optional : all :origin:engines <searx/engines> List of disabled engines.