The problem Search Mikoshi: Private Meta-Search Engine solves

In the digital age, information is abundant, but finding relevant, accurate, and privacy-conscious information can be challenging. Traditional search engines often prioritize advertising revenue over user privacy and data security, leading to a flood of personalized ads and a lack of control over search results. This can be particularly concerning for users who value their privacy and seek reliable information sources.

My SearXNG instance, hosted at "search.mikoshi.in", aims to address these challenges by providing a privacy-focused, customizable search engine. It aggregates results from various search services and databases, offering users a unified platform to search for information without compromising their privacy.

• Privacy-Centric: Unlike mainstream search engines, SearXNG does not track user data or serve personalized ads. This ensures that users can search for information without their searches being used to profile them or show them targeted ads.
• Customizable Search: Users can customize their search experience by choosing which search engines to include in the results, allowing for a more tailored search experience that aligns with their preferences and needs.
• Reliable Information: By aggregating results from multiple sources, SearXNG helps users find a broader range of information, increasing the likelihood of finding reliable and accurate sources.
• Ease of Use: The SearXNG instance is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for anyone to search for information quickly and efficiently.

Use Cases

• Educational Research: Students and researchers can use SearXNG to find academic papers, articles, and other educational resources without being influenced by advertising or personalized search results.
• Privacy-Conscious Users: Individuals concerned about their online privacy can use SearXNG to search for information in a way that respects their privacy and does not involve third-party tracking.

Challenges I ran into

During the development of my SearXNG instance for the hackathon, I encountered several challenges that tested my problem-solving skills and technical expertise. One of the most significant hurdles was optimizing the Docker container for speed. Docker containers, while offering numerous benefits, can introduce performance overheads due to networking and communication between containers and host systems. This posed a challenge in ensuring that my SearXNG instance could deliver fast and efficient search results to users.

Docker Container and Optimizing for Speed

To address the performance overheads associated with Docker containers, I implemented several strategies to optimize the Docker container for speed.

• Optimize Docker Images: I focused on optimizing the Docker images themselves, as inefficiencies in the images can directly impact the performance of the containers. I used official base images, minimized the number of layers, and utilized .dockerignore to exclude unnecessary files. This approach helped in reducing the image size and improving the overall efficiency of the Docker containers.

• Resource Management: I utilized Docker's resource management features to ensure efficient use of system resources. This included setting appropriate resource limits for containers and monitoring resource usage to identify and address any bottlenecks.