SearXNG Search for OpenClaw

Self-hosted web search for OpenClaw agents using a local SearXNG instance.

This plugin exposes a web_search tool backed by SearXNG running on your own machine. It avoids third-party search API keys and keeps the search stack local.

What This Repo Includes

• An OpenClaw plugin that registers a web_search tool
• A Docker setup for running SearXNG on 127.0.0.1:8080
• A bundled SearXNG config tuned for this plugin

Requirements

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Node.js 20+ and npm
• OpenClaw with plugin loading enabled

Architecture

Agent -> web_search -> OpenClaw plugin -> SearXNG (localhost:8080) -> search engines

1. Run SearXNG and Build The Plugin

Start the bundled SearXNG container with this script:

./start.sh

The script runs npm run build from the repo root to build the plugin, then docker compose up -d from docker/docker-compose.yml.

Check that it is healthy:

curl http://localhost:8080/healthz

or open:

http://localhost:8080

Docker Files

• docker/docker-compose.yml Runs the SearXNG container and binds it to 127.0.0.1:8080
• docker/settings.yml Defines the SearXNG instance settings and enabled engines

Useful Docker Commands

Start:

cd docker
docker compose up -d

Stop:

cd docker
docker compose down

Restart after changing settings.yml:

cd docker
docker compose restart searxng

View logs:

cd docker
docker compose logs -f searxng

2. Disable OpenClaw Built-In Web Tools

If you want OpenClaw to use this plugin for search, disable the built-in web search and fetch tools in your openclaw.json:

{
  "tools": {
    "profile": "coding",
    "web": {
      "search": {
        "enabled": false
      },
      "fetch": {
        "enabled": false
      }
    }
  }
}

This matters because otherwise OpenClaw may continue using its own built-in web tools instead of this plugin.

3. Load The Plugin In OpenClaw

Add this repo to your OpenClaw json openclaw.json and enable the plugin entry.

Example config:

{
  "plugins": {
    "load": {
      "paths": ["/path/to/this-cloned-repo"]
    },
    "entries": {
      "searxng-search": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "searxngUrl": "http://localhost:8080",
          "engines": ["duckduckgo", "brave", "grokipedia", "wikipedia", "github"],
          "timeout": 10000
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

If your OpenClaw config is on Windows, use the local absolute path to this repo.

5. Restart OpenClaw

After updating config and building the plugin:

openclaw gateway restart

At that point, the web_search tool should be available through this plugin.

SearXNG Configuration

Edit docker/settings.yml to change enabled engines or instance behavior.

Bundled defaults:

• Bind address: 0.0.0.0 inside the container
• Host port: 127.0.0.1:8080
• Default language: en-US
• Request timeout: 5s
• Enabled core engines: DuckDuckGo, Brave, Grokipedia, Wikipedia, GitHub

After changes:

cd docker
docker compose restart searxng

Troubleshooting

OpenClaw does not use this plugin

Check all of the following:

• Built-in OpenClaw web tools are disabled in openclaw.json
• The plugin is built with npm run build
• The plugin path is correct in OpenClaw config
• The plugin entry searxng-search is enabled

The plugin cannot reach SearXNG

The plugin defaults to:

http://localhost:8080

Make sure the container is running:

cd docker
docker compose ps

Then check:

curl http://localhost:8080/healthz

Search requests fail or return poor results

• Review the enabled engines in docker/settings.yml
• Check SearXNG logs with docker compose logs -f searxng
• Restart the container after config changes

Development

Install dependencies:

npm install

Build:

npm run build

Watch mode:

npm run dev