#+TITLE:
#+AUTHOR: Bob Mottram
#+EMAIL: bob@freedombone.net
#+KEYWORDS: freedombone, searx, search
#+DESCRIPTION: How to use SearX metasearch
#+OPTIONS: ^:nil toc:nil
#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="freedombone.css" />

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<h1>SearX</h1>
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SearX is a metasearch engine. That means it returns results from other selected search engines. It's accessible via an onion address and provides a private search ability. Really the only advantage it gives you over searching directly from a Tor browser is the ability to customise your search experience.

In terms of security both the connection between you and the server, and the outgoing connection from the server to other search engines are onion routed. This should give you a reasonable level of search privacy.


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[[file:images/searx.jpg]]
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* Installation

ssh into the system with:

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh myusername@mydomain.com -p 2222
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Select *Administrator controls* then *Add/remove apps*. From there you can use cursor keys, space and enter keys to select *searx*.

Once it has installed go to *About* on the *Administrator control panel* and look for *searx*. Take a note of the onion address, and you can then enter that into a Tor compatible browser.

* Make it your default search

In a Tor browser click on the magnifying glass icon next to the search box and you can then add your metasearch site. A small icon will appear called "/Freedombone Metasearch/" and you can then right click on it and make it the default search.

* Enabling password login

It's possible that you might not want just anyone on the interwebs to be able to use your metasearch engine. Even with the onion routing this might carry some legal risk or make you a target for denial-of-service attempts (although Tor's rate limits and the firewall will give you some defense against that).

To enable password login go to the *Administrator control panel* then *App settings* then select *searx* and *Enable login*. If you select "yes" then the password will be displayed.

* Customization

It's also possible to customise the background image if you go to *App settings* then select *searx*.