How to set up SearXNG
· Updated 31 July 2026 · SparkBox team
Search Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo without being tracked. This guide covers how to access it, log in for the first time, configure the basics, and where its data lives so you can back it up.
1. What is SearXNG?
SearXNG is a metasearch engine — it forwards your query to dozens of sources (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, GitHub, etc.) and returns the combined results without sharing your IP, cookies, or query history with any of them. Set it as your browser's default search engine and stop being the product.
2. How to access it
Once it's enabled, SearXNG runs on your SparkBox at:
http://<your-NAS-IP>:8088Type a query in the SearXNG box to search 70+ engines without telemetry
3. Tips
- In your browser settings, add SearXNG as a custom search engine pointing at this server, then set it as default
- First launch shows a 'No results' page — that's normal until you run your first query
- Edit modules/searxng/config/settings.yml on the host to enable / disable specific search engines
4. Where your data lives
SearXNG's config and persistent data are stored on the SparkBox host under:
/opt/sparkbox/modules/searxng/config/Backups via the SparkBox dashboard's Backup tile include this directory by default, so a single restore brings SearXNG back to its current state on a fresh install.
Next steps
That's SearXNG live on SparkBox.
If something doesn't match what you see, post in d/sparkbox or hit us up on YouTube. Every SparkBox bug gets patched; every UX-stumble in this guide gets rewritten.
Questions, or did this not match your box?
Every guide here came from a real problem someone hit. If yours behaves differently, say so — that is how these get corrected, and how the fix gets prioritised.
We answer there rather than in a comment box, because that is where the people who have already solved it are.