SearXNG: open it, first login, settings, fixes
· Updated 18 September 2026 · SparkBox team
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. This is the short card for it — the two minutes after you press Enable, and the page to come back to when something is off.
Open it
Dashboard → Apps → SearXNG → Open. The direct address on your network is:
http://<your-box-IP>:8088Type a query in the SearXNG box to search 70+ engines without telemetry
First login
No login — SearXNG is an open search page, by design (it stores no accounts or history). Anyone on your home network can use it; don't publish it to the internet without protection.
Any password the installer generated for you is under Settings → Passwords; the Open button offers to copy it.
Worth knowing
- 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
When it breaks
If it will not open, check the app card first — a red dot means it is restarting or unhealthy, and this walkthrough reads the reason from its log. Tom AI on the dashboard can do the same for you.
Where your data lives
/opt/sparkbox/modules/searxng/config/Included in the dashboard's Backup by default. Restoring that backup on a fresh install brings SearXNG back exactly as it was.
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.