# search
The search module routes queries through SearXNG, a self-hosted
meta-search engine running in Docker. fossick starts the container
automatically on the first call. Results are cached in Redis, so
repeated queries return immediately.
## SearXNG
------------------------------------------------------------------------
source
### searxng_stop
``` python
def searxng_stop(
):
```
*Stop SearXNG + Redis if we started them. No-op otherwise.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
source
### searxng_start
``` python
def searxng_start(
settings:Path=None
)->str:
```
*Start SearXNG + Redis via Compose. `settings` overrides the bundled
searxng_settings.yml. Idempotent.*
## Result type and query routing
[`_intent()`](https://vedicreader.github.io/fossick/search.html#_intent)
scores the query against keyword lists for each category. At least two
signals must match before routing away from the default `general`
category, which keeps single generic words like “python” from sending a
query to GitHub and Stack Overflow instead of Google.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
source
### Result
``` python
def Result(
args:VAR_POSITIONAL, default_:NoneType=None, kwargs:VAR_KEYWORD
):
```
*One search result. Fields: title, url, snippet, score, engines,
provider, ts.*
## SearXNG search
------------------------------------------------------------------------
source
### search
``` python
def search(
q:str, n:int=10, # max results
category:str=None, # override SearXNG category (general/science/it/news)
engines:str=None, # comma-sep engine names passed to SearXNG
)->L:
```
*Search the web. Returns L of Result sorted by relevance.*
## Tests
``` python
# Verify intent routing
assert _intent('arxiv transformer paper')[0] == 'academic'
assert _intent('latest news today')[0] == 'recent'
assert _intent('what is the capital of France')[0] == 'default'
# Requires >=2 code signals — single match falls through to general
assert _intent('github python error')[0] == 'default' # only 1 signal (github)
assert _intent('github npm package install')[0] == 'code' # 2 signals (github + npm)
# Generic web-dev terms alone must not trigger code routing
assert _intent('fasthtml python web framework')[0] == 'default'
```
``` python
searxng_start()
```
'http://localhost:8080'
``` python
# Live test — requires Docker
url = searxng_start()
print('SearXNG at', url)
results = search('fasthtml python web framework', n=5)
for r in results: print(r.title, r.url)
```
SearXNG at http://localhost:8080
FastHTML - Modern web applications in pure Python https://fastht.ml/
GitHub - AnswerDotAI/fasthtml: The fastest way to create an HTML app https://github.com/answerdotai/fasthtml
FastHTML: a hypermedia-first python framework w/htmx available ootb https://www.reddit.com/r/htmx/comments/1efizmn/fasthtml_a_hypermediafirst_python_framework_whtmx/
FastHTML Tutorial: Build Modern Web Applications with Pure Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxA8YH_UyBo
First encounter with FastHTML: Building a FastHTML assistant https://medium.com/@mrsirsh/first-encounter-with-fasthtml-building-a-fasthtml-assistant-fe896d3a3e60
``` python
search('what is the capital of France')[0]
```
``` python
{ 'default_': None,
'engines': ['google', 'startpage'],
'provider': 'searxng',
'score': 8.0,
'snippet': 'Paris is the capital and largest city of France, with an '
'estimated city population of 2.04 million in an area of 105.4 km '
'2 (40.7 sq mi), and a metropolitan ...',
'title': 'Paris - Wikipedia',
'ts': 1780439809.467083,
'url': 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris'}
```