@amartinr/pi-searxng

A minimalist SearXNG web search extension for Pi.

This is a focused, no-frills implementation that provides only web search and result caching — no content fetching, no repository cloning, no external dependencies beyond SearXNG.

Note: This is an independent fork of jcha0713/pi-searxng, stripped down to its core search functionality with improved caching.

Features

• Web Search - Search the web via a SearXNG instance
• Cached Results - Retrieve previous search results by ID for follow-up queries
• Smart Caching - Deterministic IDs, freshness TTL, LRU eviction, and deduplication
• Safesearch - Configurable content filtering (off, moderate, strict)

Design Philosophy

This extension follows a minimalist approach:

• Web search only — No content fetching, no HTML-to-Markdown conversion
• No repository cloning — Unlike the original, it doesn't clone GitHub repos
• No external tools — Doesn't require git or any system dependencies
• Self-contained — Everything runs in-process, no background services
• Updated imports — Uses current @earendil-works/ scoped packages (Pi coding agent, TUI, TypeBox)

If you need content extraction or repo browsing, consider using other Pi extensions for those tasks.

Installation

pi install npm:@amartinr/pi-searxng

Or try without installing:

pi -e npm:@amartinr/pi-searxng

Building

npm install
npm run build

This compiles the TypeScript source in src/ to JavaScript in dist/.

Configuration

Create ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-searxng/config.json:

{
  "searxngUrl": "http://localhost:8080",
  "timeoutMs": 30000,
  "maxResults": 10,
  "safesearch": "off"
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
searxngUrl	string	http://localhost:8080	URL of the SearXNG instance (can also be set via SEARXNG_URL env var)
timeoutMs	number	30000	HTTP request timeout in milliseconds
maxResults	number	10	Maximum number of results returned per search
safesearch	string	"off"	Content filtering level ("off", "moderate", "strict")

Or use an environment variable:

export SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8080

Tools

web_search

Search the web using SearXNG. Results are automatically cached for subsequent identical queries.

Parameters:

• query (string, required) - Search query
• limit (number, optional) - Max results to return (overrides maxResults from config). Note: the actual number returned depends on SearXNG's internal configuration.

Returns: A searchId in the details field, which can be used with get_search_results or passed to subsequent calls.

get_search_results

Retrieve cached search results by ID. Returns the original query and all cached results.

Parameters:

• searchId (string, required) - Search ID returned from a previous web_search call

Returns: The original search query and the cached results. If the searchId is not found, returns an error message.

Error Handling

Both tools return error messages within the response content when something fails:

• web_search — If SearXNG is unreachable, returns a descriptive error (including the HTTP status and response body).
• get_search_results — Returns "Search not found" if the searchId doesn't exist in the cache.

Result Format

Results are returned as numbered entries with the following structure:

1. **Result Title**
   https://example.com
   Short snippet of the result content...

Each result includes the title, URL, and a snippet (truncated to 200 characters).

Caching

The package includes an in-memory cache that reduces redundant calls to SearXNG:

• Deterministic IDs — The searchId is an MD5 hash of the query text, so the same query always produces the same ID. This enables cache deduplication and lookup via get_search_results.
• Freshness TTL — Cache entries are considered fresh for a configurable period (default: 15 min). Stale entries trigger a new search instead of returning cached results.
• Eviction TTL — Entries that haven't been accessed within 24 hours are automatically removed.
• LRU eviction — When the cache exceeds 200 entries, the oldest (least recently used) entries are evicted.
• Lazy cleanup — Cleanup runs automatically at the start of each tool call.

Cache configuration

These fields can be added to ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pi-searxng/config.json:

Field	Type	Default	Description
cacheFreshnessMs	number	900000 (15 min)	How long cache entries are considered fresh before re-searching
cacheTtlMs	number	86400000 (24 hours)	Max time an entry stays in cache without being accessed
cacheMaxSize	number	200	Max number of entries before LRU eviction kicks in

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• A running SearXNG instance (for web search)

License

MIT