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name: web-search description: "Free web search via DuckDuckGo — text, news, images. No API key needed. Self-hosted SearXNG as alternative." version: 1.0.0 metadata: echo: tags: [Search, Web, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, Research]

Web Search

Free web search without API keys. Two options: DuckDuckGo (zero config) or SearXNG (self-hosted).

DuckDuckGo (Primary)

Python library (recommended)

pip install duckduckgo_search

from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

# Text search
results = DDGS().text("query here", max_results=5)
for r in results:
    print(f"{r['title']}\n{r['href']}\n{r['body']}\n")

# News search
news = DDGS().news("AI agents", max_results=5)

# Image search
images = DDGS().images("cat meme", max_results=3)

CLI one-liner

python3 -c "
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS
for r in DDGS().text('$QUERY', max_results=5):
    print(f\"{r['title']}\n  {r['href']}\n  {r['body'][:100]}\n\")
"

Helper script

python3 scripts/web_search.py "your query" --max 5
python3 scripts/web_search.py "AI news" --type news
python3 scripts/web_search.py "cat" --type images

SearXNG (Self-hosted alternative)

For privacy or heavy usage, deploy your own SearXNG instance:

# JSON API (no key needed for self-hosted)
curl -s "http://localhost:8080/search?q=QUERY&format=json&engines=google,bing,duckduckgo" | python3 -m json.tool

Docker deployment:

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 searxng/searxng

Rate Limits

Service	Limit	Notes
DuckDuckGo	~20-30 req/min	No official limit, be respectful
SearXNG	Unlimited (self-hosted)	Depends on upstream engines

Tips

• Use specific queries with operators: site:github.com Python agent
• For recent results, add year: "2026" AI agent framework
• DuckDuckGo respects region param: DDGS().text(query, region="cn-zh")