This page contains the complete expanded guide shown in my video. Here you will find the real working procedure to install SearXNG locally, configure it correctly, integrate Tor, and make it start automatically at login.
This is not theory. This guide was built by actually installing and debugging SearXNG on Void Linux in real time.
⚠️ DISCLAIMER
Do not paste commands blindly.
Read them. Understand them.
If something looks different on your system, stop and think.
I show working commands, but your responsibility remains yours.
SearXNG is not a traditional search engine. It does not crawl the web. It does not index pages. It does not own massive databases. It is a meta search engine. It asks other engines for results, cleans them, merges them, and shows them to you.
When running locally, your browser never talks directly to Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. It talks only to SearXNG on localhost. SearXNG then talks to external engines. They never see your browser, your cookies, your profile or your history.
This changes the tracking model completely. You are no longer the product. You are again the user.
On minimal distributions some Python dependencies must be compiled. Before installing SearXNG you need a working build environment.
On Void Linux:
sudo xbps-install -Sy base-devel cmake pkg-config python3-develOn Debian, Ubuntu, Mint:
sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config python3-devOnce these are installed, SearXNG dependencies compile correctly.
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/searxng/searxng.git
cd searxngpython3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activateIf your prompt shows (venv), you are inside the environment.
First install external dependencies:
python -m pip install -r requirements.txtThen install SearXNG itself inside the virtual environment:
python -m pip install -e . --no-build-isolationThis second command is mandatory.
Without it Python will throw ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'searx'.
cp searx/settings.yml searx/settings.yml.bakKEY="$(python3 -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))')" && echo "$KEY"Insert the key automatically:
sed -i 's/^\([[:space:]]*secret_key:\).*/\1 "'"$KEY"'"/' searx/settings.ymlsed -i '/^server:$/,/^general:$/ s/^\([[:space:]]*bind_address:\).*/\1 "127.0.0.1"/' searx/settings.ymlsed -i '/^server:$/,/^general:$/ s/^\([[:space:]]*port:\).*/\1 8888/' searx/settings.ymlgrep -q '^use_default_settings:' searx/settings.yml || sed -i '1iuse_default_settings: true\n' searx/settings.ymlsed -n '/^server:$/,/^general:$/p' searx/settings.yml | grep -E "bind_address|port|secret_key"cd ~/searxng
source venv/bin/activate
export SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH="$PWD/searx/settings.yml"
python searx/webapp.pyIf you see:
* Serving Flask app 'webapp'SearXNG is running.
Open in browser:
http://localhost:8888Debian / Ubuntu / Mint:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y tor
sudo systemctl enable --now torVoid Linux (runit):
sudo xbps-install -Sy tor
sudo ln -s /etc/sv/tor /var/servicess -lntp | grep 9050Test IP:
curl -s https://ifconfig.me/ip ; echo
curl -s --socks5-hostname 127.0.0.1:9050 https://ifconfig.me/ip ; echoIf IPs differ, Tor works.
sed -i '/^outgoing:$/a\
proxies:\
all://: socks5h://127.0.0.1:9050\
using_tor_proxy: true\
' searx/settings.ymlexport SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH="$PWD/searx/settings.yml"
python searx/webapp.pyIf Tor is unreachable, SearXNG refuses to start. If it starts normally, Tor routing is active.
Tor in SearXNG protects the search phase. When clicking a result, the browser connects normally unless you use Tor Browser. Tor in SearXNG = private search. Tor Browser = anonymous browsing.
⚠️ Reality check about Tor and search engines
Tor and SearNGX are not appreciated at all by search engines. They constantly try to block it.
Right now Google works only because of a temporary hack merged by a community user:
https://github.com/searxng/searxng/pull/5644
As you can read here:
https://github.com/searxng/searxng/issues/5286
For months Google stopped working entirely , it will never work with TOR just like other engines .
So let’s be clear:
If you want Google, DuckDuckGo and Brave inside SearXNG, you will likely need to disable Tor.
If you keep Tor enabled, you can still use SearXNG — but you should rely on Startpage. Its results are very close to Google and it currently works reliably through Tor.
I felt it was correct to put you in front of this reality. It’s not all roses and flowers.
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/usercat > ~/.config/systemd/user/searxng.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=SearXNG Local Service
[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=%h/searxng
ExecStart=%h/searxng/venv/bin/python %h/searxng/searx/webapp.py
Environment=SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH=%h/searxng/searx/settings.yml
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOFsystemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now searxngmkdir -p ~/.local/sv/searxngcat > ~/.local/sv/searxng/run <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
cd "$HOME/searxng"
. venv/bin/activate
export SEARXNG_SETTINGS_PATH="$HOME/searxng/searx/settings.yml"
exec python searx/webapp.py
EOFchmod +x ~/.local/sv/searxng/run
ln -s ~/.local/sv/searxng ~/.local/serviceVoid Linux does not automatically start user runit services.
You must start a user runsvdir instance at login, otherwise services inside ~/.local/service will never run.
This is not a bug in SearXNG. It is how Void Linux handles user services.
Add this autostart entry once:
mkdir -p ~/.config/autostartcat > ~/.config/autostart/runsvdir-user.desktop <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=runit user services
Exec=sh -lc 'mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/service" "$HOME/.local/sv" ; pgrep -u "$USER" -f "runsvdir.*$HOME/.local/service" >/dev/null || exec runsvdir -P "$HOME/.local/service"'
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
NoDisplay=true
EOFAfter the next login, user runit services will start automatically, and SearXNG will launch at session startup.
In Firefox add a new search engine:
http://localhost:8888/search?q=%sSet it as default search engine.
SearXNG in local mode removes profiling, cookies, tracking and centralized control from your searches. Tor integration removes your real IP from search queries. No domains. No cloud. No external servers. Just you and the web, on your terms.
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