How to set up SearXNG

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>:8088

Type 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