Degoog FAQ

Is Degoog a search engine?

No. It is an aggregator. It has no index of the web of its own and does not crawl anything. It asks the engines you install and merges their answers. The optional indexer is the one exception, and it only ever remembers results you were already shown.

I installed it and searching returns nothing. Is it broken?

No, it is empty. Degoog ships with zero search engines and zero autocomplete providers, deliberately. Add a store repository, install engines, enable them. The setup wizard walks you through it.

How is this different from SearXNG?

Same general idea, different shape. SearXNG is a large project with a great many engines bundled in. Degoog keeps the core small and pushes almost everything into installable extensions, so you assemble the instance you want rather than switching off the parts you do not. Perfect for Lego nerds. Degoog can also run SearXNG's own engine files through a compatibility layer if there is one you miss.

SearXNG came first and is way more mature, that said alternatives are a very good thing that we should all embrace. Both are worth trying and while you are at it give 4get a try too!

Why do my results differ from someone else's on the same instance?

Because engine selection, theme, and search options are stored in your browser, not on the server. Two people on the same instance can be running completely different sets of engines. Whoever administers it can publish a default set for new visitors, but your own choices will always win.

How does Degoog decide result order?

Results near the top of an engine get more points. If the same URL appears in more than one engine, those points are added together and Degoog gives it a small bonus. The full math is in How aggregation works.

Domain scores are added at the end. So if a result has 29 points, example.com|20 makes it 49, and spam.example|-15 makes it 14. They are just plus or minus points, not percentages.

Can I put my instance on the internet?

Yes, some crazy people already do. Before you do:

• Set DEGOOG_SETTINGS_PASSWORDS. Without it, anyone who can reach your instance can install extensions, and extensions run code on your server.
• Consider DEGOOG_PUBLIC_INSTANCE=true, which puts visitors on a read-only settings page and moves admin behind a separate path.
• Use HTTPS and a reverse proxy you control.
• Apply the Public Web Instance or Hardened Public Instance preset in Server settings.

I come from the Duck, do you do bangs?

It has its own bang system, and engines can claim their own shortcut (!g for Google, for instance). If you specifically want DuckDuckGo's enormous bang list, there is a store plugin that forwards !! commands to DuckDuckGo, and a Custom Bangs plugin for defining your own redirects.

Why does Google need so much setup?

Because the big G does not want a server scraping it and does its best to check for a genuine browser session. Degoog's answer is transports: the engine tells you which one each results format expects, and the Store has a bunch of them but you can make your own. It is documented step by step in Tips and tricks.

Is it private?

Your queries go from your browser to your own server, and from there to whichever engines you enabled. No account, no profile, no cross-site tracking. What upstream engines see is a request from your server's IP, which is why the proxy support exists.

Two things to be aware of: the indexer, if enabled, records what you searched for and saw. And some extensions cause your own browser to contact external services directly, which the extension card tells you about explicitly.

Can I use it on my phone?

Yes. The UI is responsive, and Degoog ships a web app manifest and service worker so you can install it to your home screen. That needs HTTPS. There is a button in Settings, General, Install app if your browser did not offer it.

Can I point an LLM at it?

Two ways. Enabling Serve the SearXNG API shape in Server settings makes /api/search answer format=json requests the way SearXNG clients such as Open WebUI expect, so those tools work with no custom glue. Separately, degoog-mcp is a small sidecar that exposes Degoog over the Model Context Protocol with search and scrape tools. See the API reference.

Is it production ready? I heard you are in beta.

It is in stable beta. Usable day to day, and public instances run on it, but I am very upfront that there can be some inconsistent behaviour. Expect the occasional rough edge and keep an eye on releases.

Can I write my own extension?

Yes, and it is one of the better parts of the project. Engines, themes, transports, autocomplete providers, plugins, and shortcuts all have documented contracts and a CLI scaffold. Flip the sidebar to Developer docs.

Does degoog ship with any easter eggs?

Many, have fun finding them all <3

Where do I ask for help or report a bug?

The Discord community for questions, and GitHub issues for bugs. Troubleshooting is worth a look first.