Darash

Darash is a provider-neutral async Rust client for a local or remote SearxNG instance. It builds SearxNG JSON search requests, bounds response sizes, and projects results into citations without requiring an API key.

Local SearxNG

The official SearxNG Docker Compose setup is the quickest local instance. It requires Docker with Compose:

mkdir -p searxng/core-config
cd searxng
curl -fsSL \
  -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/searxng/searxng/master/container/docker-compose.yml \
  -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/searxng/searxng/master/container/.env.example
cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d

SearxNG is then available at http://localhost:8080. Stop it with docker compose down. See the SearxNG container documentation for configuration and maintenance.

Use the crate

Darash is not yet published on crates.io. Depend on the public repository for now:

[dependencies]
darash = { git = "https://github.com/tschk/darash", branch = "main" }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }

Create a client, build a query, and search asynchronously:

use darash::{SearchClient, SearchQuery, SafeSearch, TimeRange};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), darash::Error> {
    let client = SearchClient::new("http://localhost:8080")?;
    let query = SearchQuery::new("rust async")
        .with_categories("general,news")
        .with_engines(["brave", "duckduckgo"])
        .with_language("en-US")
        .with_page(1)
        .with_safe_search(SafeSearch::Moderate)
        .with_time_range(TimeRange::Month);

    let response = client.search(&query).await?;
    for citation in response.citations() {
        println!("{} — {}", citation.title, citation.url);
    }
    Ok(())
}

SearchResponse also exposes the raw SearxNG query, result count, results, answers, corrections, and suggestions. Its optional answer is a backend answer when one is supplied; Darash does not call an AI provider. sources and cited_sources() expose the cited Citation values for host-owned synthesis. Each SearchResult includes its title, URL, snippet, engines, category, publication date, and score.

The Vane-compatible request contract carries a search mode and source selection without adding provider credentials:

use darash::{SearchClient, SearchMode, SearchRequest, SearchSource};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), darash::Error> {
    let request = SearchRequest::new("rust async")
        .with_mode(SearchMode::Quality)
        .with_sources([SearchSource::Web, SearchSource::Academic]);
    let response = SearchClient::local()?.search_request(&request).await?;
    for source in response.cited_sources() {
        println!("{}: {}", source.title, source.url);
    }
    Ok(())
}

SearchMode supports Speed, Balanced (the default), and Quality. SearchSource supports Web (the default), Academic, and Discussions. JSON requests may omit mode and sources; they default to balanced and web. The host can synthesize an answer from the returned sources with its own model.

CLI

The native CLI uses http://localhost:8080 by default and does not require an environment variable. Pass --url only when using another SearxNG endpoint:

cargo run -- search "rust async"
cargo run -- search "rust async" --mode quality --source academic --url http://localhost:9090

The CLI prints any backend answer and the cited sources. AI synthesis remains a host responsibility; no MCP server is needed for this in-process tool.

Use SearchConfig when the endpoint needs a custom timeout:

use std::time::Duration;
use darash::{SearchClient, SearchConfig};

fn main() -> Result<(), darash::Error> {
    let config = SearchConfig::new("https://search.example.test")?
        .with_timeout(Duration::from_secs(5));
    let _client = SearchClient::from_config(config)?;
    Ok(())
}

Limits and errors

• Requests time out after 15 seconds by default; configure this with SearchConfig::with_timeout.
• Response bodies are capped at 256 KiB, including streamed responses.
• Queries must contain non-whitespace text, and page numbers start at 1.
• Endpoints must use http or https and cannot contain embedded credentials.
• Redirects are disabled. Point the client at the final SearxNG endpoint.
• Error distinguishes invalid configuration, request failures, non-success HTTP responses, oversized or invalid responses, and JSON decode failures.

Native quality checks

Run these commands from the crate root:

cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo build --locked
cargo test --locked
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo package --locked

Darash is licensed under MPL-2.0.