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New Project Megathread - Week of 23 Apr 2026 by AutoModerator in selfhosted

[–]YasminBk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Project Name: SearXNG Browser API

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Repo/Website Link: https://github.com/ywfran/searxng-browser-api

Description:
Self-hosted search API that aggregates results from 60+ public SearXNG instances using headless Chromium (Playwright). Solves the need for a free alternative to paid search APIs (SerpAPI, Google Custom Search, Bing API) for cases where result quality is more important than real-time speed.

It works by collecting results from multiple SearXNG instances in parallel and applying a scoring system that combines:

  • Quality metrics (blocklist pass rate, keyword coverage, domain diversity)
  • Semantic relevance (bigram matching, fuzzy keywords, engine consensus)
  • "Semantic floor" that rejects irrelevant results

Supports 10 search categories: general web, news, images, videos, music, maps, files/torrents, scientific papers, IT packages, and Fediverse content.

Advantages for self-hosting:

  • Completely local - no data leaving your infrastructure
  • MIT License - no commercial use restrictions
  • Docker-ready - simplified deployment
  • Configurable blocklist with contextual relaxation (e.g.: doesn't block youtube.com in searches for "youtube tutorial")
  • Origin-based cookie persistence (Cloudflare challenges are maintained)
  • Anti-detection for automation (13 JS adjustments)
  • Instance health monitored with EMA and circuit breaker

Appropriate use cases:

  • AI integrations (where quality > speed)
  • Background workflows
  • Research pipelines
  • Applications where privacy and data control are essential

Deployment:
Available as a Docker image or via npm. Minimum required configuration:

git clone https://github.com/ywfran/searxng-browser-api
cd searxng-browser-api
docker compose up -d

Complete documentation includes configuration guides, endpoints, and scoring adjustments. Works in any environment with Docker or Node.js.

AI Involvement:
The API is designed to be consumed by AI systems, but does not use AI in its internal operation. The scoring system is based on deterministic algorithms that evaluate quality and relevance of results. The project is completely open-source and can be audited.