SearXNG setup with TrueNAS, Dockge and optional VPN

This tutorial explains how to install SearXNG, an open source metasearch engine, on a home server. Evan demonstrates two alternative deployment routes: the TrueNAS Apps catalog and Docker Compose through Dockge. Both use a TrueNAS dataset for persistent storage, with permissions assigned to the apps group.

The TrueNAS route selects that dataset as a host path during installation. For Dockge, the walkthrough copies a Compose configuration from the channel's wiki, generates a secret key in the TrueNAS shell and sets the SearXNG base URL to the server's IP address. The demonstrated web interface uses port 5080.

Search preferences let users enable or disable engines and select separate sources for images, videos and other result categories. Evan also runs a sample search to show the results interface.

The privacy discussion includes a limitation of a private, self-hosted instance: upstream search engines can potentially correlate queries that share the same server IP. Evan describes request filtering and reduced tracking as privacy benefits, then explains an optional Gluetun configuration that routes SearXNG traffic through a VPN. The AirVPN example requires WireGuard private and pre-shared keys. Tor routing is discussed, but the tutorial does not demonstrate its setup.