searxng/docs/admin/installation-nginx.rst

Install with nginx

Contents

The nginx HTTP server

If nginx is not installed (uwsgi will not work with the package nginx-light) install it now.

Ubuntu / debian

sudo -H apt-get install nginx

Arch Linux

sudo -H pacman -S nginx-mainline
sudo -H systemctl enable nginx
sudo -H systemctl start nginx

Fedora / RHEL

sudo -H dnf install nginx
sudo -H systemctl enable nginx
sudo -H systemctl start nginx

Now at http://localhost you should see a Welcome to nginx! page, on Fedora you see a Fedora Webserver - Test Page. The test page comes from the default nginx server configuration:

Ubuntu / debian

less /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

there is a line including site configurations from:

include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;

Arch Linux

less /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

in there is a configuration section named server:

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  localhost;
    # ...
}

Fedora / RHEL

less /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

there is a line including site configurations from:

include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;

A nginx searx site

public to the internet?

If your searx instance is public, stop here and first install filtron reverse proxy <filtron.sh> and result proxy morty <morty.sh>, see installation scripts.

Now you have to create a configuration for the searx site. If nginx is new to you, the nginx beginners guide is a good starting point and the Getting Started wiki is always a good resource to keep in the pocket.

Ubuntu / debian

Create configuration at /etc/nginx/sites-available/searx and place a symlink to sites-enabled:

sudo -H ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/searx /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/searx

Arch Linux

In the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file, replace the configuration section named server.

Fedora / RHEL

Create configuration at /etc/nginx/conf.d/searx and place a symlink to sites-enabled:

searx via filtron plus morty

Use this setup, if your instance is public to the internet, compare figure: architecture <arch public>. Configure a reverse proxy for filtron <filtron.sh>, listening on localhost 4004 (filtron route request):

location / {
    proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:4004/;

    proxy_set_header   Host             $http_host;
    proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP        $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For  $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header   X-Scheme         $scheme;
}

Configure reverse proxy for morty <searx morty>, listening on localhost 3000:

location /morty {
    proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:3000/;

    proxy_set_header   Host             $http_host;
    proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP        $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For  $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header   X-Scheme         $scheme;
}

Note that reverse proxy advised to be used in case of single-user or low-traffic instances. For a fully result proxification add morty's <searx morty> public URL to your searx/settings.yml:

result_proxy:
    # replace example.org with your server's public name
    url : https://example.org/

proxy or uWSGI

Be warned, with this setup, your instance isn't protected <searx filtron>. Nevertheless it is good enough for intranet usage and it is a excellent example of; how different services can be set up. The next example shows a reverse proxy configuration wrapping the searx-uWSGI application <uwsgi configuration>, listening on http = 127.0.0.1:8888.

location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8888;

    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Scheme $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Script-Name /searx;
    proxy_buffering off;
}

Alternatively you can use the uWSGI support from nginx via unix sockets. For socket communication, you have to activate socket = /run/uwsgi/app/searx/socket and comment out the http = 127.0.0.1:8888 configuration in your uwsgi ini file <uwsgi configuration>.

The example shows a nginx virtual server configuration, listening on port 80 (IPv4 and IPv6 http://[::]:80). The uWSGI app is configured at location / by importing the uwsgi_params and passing requests to the uWSGI socket (uwsgi_pass). The server's root points to the searx-src clone <searx-src> and wraps directly the searx/static/ content at location /static.

server {
    # replace example.org with your server's public name
    server_name example.org;

    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    location / {
        include uwsgi_params;
        uwsgi_pass unix:/run/uwsgi/app/searx/socket;
    }

root /usr/local/searx/searx-src/searx;
    location /static { }
}

If not already exists, create a folder for the unix sockets, which can be used by the searx account:

mkdir -p /run/uwsgi/app/searx/ sudo -H chown -R searx:searx /run/uwsgi/app/searx/

subdirectory URL

Be warned, with these setups, your instance isn't protected <searx filtron>. The examples are just here to demonstrate how to export the searx application from a subdirectory URL https://example.org/searx/.

location /searx {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8888;

    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Scheme $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Script-Name /searx;
    proxy_buffering off;
}

location /searx/static {
    alias /usr/local/searx/searx-src/searx/static;
}

The X-Script-Name /searx is needed by the searx implementation to calculate relative URLs correct. The next example shows a uWSGI configuration. Since there are no HTTP headers in a (u)WSGI protocol, the value is shipped via the SCRIPT_NAME in the WSGI environment.

location /searx/static {
    alias /usr/local/searx/searx-src/searx;
}

location /searx {
    uwsgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /searx;
    include uwsgi_params;
    uwsgi_pass unix:/run/uwsgi/app/searx/socket;
}

For searx to work correctly the base_url must be set in the searx/settings.yml.

server:
    # replace example.org with your server's public name
    base_url : https://example.org/searx/

Restart service:

Ubuntu / debian

sudo -H systemctl restart nginx
sudo -H service uwsgi restart searx

Arch Linux

sudo -H systemctl restart nginx
sudo -H systemctl restart uwsgi@searx

Fedora

sudo -H systemctl restart nginx
sudo -H touch /etc/uwsgi.d/searx.ini

Disable logs

For better privacy you can disable nginx logs in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.

http {
    # ...
    access_log /dev/null;
    error_log  /dev/null;
    # ...
}