Fixing SearXNG Docker Proxy Timeout Issue | Generated by AI

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How I Solved the SearXNG Proxy Issue

The Problem

SearXNG was timing out on all search engines (Google, Brave, DuckDuckGo, etc.) because it couldn’t reach the internet. The fix needed was routing its traffic through the local Mihomo proxy.

Root Cause Chain

  1. SearXNG runs in Docker — it can’t use 127.0.0.1 to reach the host
  2. Wrong host IP — host.docker.internal was hardcoded to 172.17.0.1 (default Docker bridge), but the container was on a custom Docker network (172.20.0.0/16) with gateway 172.20.0.1
  3. UFW blocking — even after finding the right IP, UFW’s INPUT DROP policy was blocking TCP from the Docker subnet to port 7890
  4. settings.yml proxy format — SearXNG’s outgoing.proxies needed to be a plain string, not a YAML list

Steps to Fix

  1. Confirmed proxy works from host: curl --proxy http://127.0.0.1:7890 https://google.com ✅
  2. Checked container env vars — HTTP_PROXY was set to host.docker.internal:7890 but that resolved to the wrong IP
  3. Inspected container routing: ip route revealed gateway is 172.20.0.1, not 172.17.0.1
  4. Tested TCP from container to 172.20.0.1:7890 — succeeded
  5. Added iptables rule to allow Docker subnet through UFW
  6. Set proxies: http://172.20.0.1:7890 in settings.yml under outgoing:
  7. Restarted container → 25 results returned

Fresh Install Guide

# 1. Create directory
mkdir ~/searxng && cd ~/searxng

# 2. Create docker-compose.yml
cat > docker-compose.yml <<'EOF'
services:
  searxng:
    image: searxng/searxng:latest
    container_name: searxng
    ports:
      - "8888:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./searxng-data:/etc/searxng
    restart: unless-stopped
EOF

# 3. Start once to generate settings.yml
docker compose up -d
sleep 5
docker compose down

# 4. Set proxy in settings.yml
# Find your Docker network gateway:
docker network inspect bridge | grep Gateway
# Use that IP (usually 172.17.0.1 for default, or check your custom network)

# Edit searxng-data/settings.yml, under outgoing:
#   proxies: http://<GATEWAY_IP>:7890

# 5. Allow Docker subnet through firewall
sudo iptables -I INPUT -s 172.20.0.0/16 -p tcp --dport 7890 -j ACCEPT
# Make persistent:
sudo apt install iptables-persistent && sudo netfilter-persistent save

# 6. Start
docker compose up -d

Key Lessons

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