Hey Search

A privacy-respecting metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines.

Inspired by SearXNG.

Architecture

• Backend: Python / FastAPI — async metasearch orchestrator with retry logic
• Frontend: React + Vite + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS (shadcn theming) — mobile-first UI
• Docker: Multi-stage build (Node frontend build → Python runtime)

Prerequisites

• uv (Python package manager)
• Node.js >= 18
• Python >= 3.12

Running Locally

1. Backend

cd backend
uv sync                # install dependencies
uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000

The API will be available at http://localhost:8000. Interactive docs:

• Swagger UI: http://localhost:8000/docs
• Redoc: http://localhost:8000/redoc

2. Frontend

cd frontend
npm install            # install dependencies
npm run dev            # start dev server with hot reload

The frontend dev server runs at http://localhost:5173 and proxies /api requests to the backend.

3. Docker (production)

docker build -t hey-search .
docker run -p 8000:8000 hey-search

Then open http://localhost:8000.

API Endpoints

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/search?q=&category=	Search web or images
GET	/api/autocomplete?q=	Autocomplete suggestions
GET	/api/engines	List all search engines
PUT	/api/engines/{name}	Enable/disable an engine

Features

See FEATURES.md for the full feature list.