Self-host browser-search
v3.2.1AI agent skill for web search with anti-bot bypass
- Stars
- 539
- Requires
- Docker, Node.js, Npm
What is browser-search?
browser-search is a skill for AI agents providing web search and browsing through three components. SearXNG runs in Docker as a metasearch engine querying multiple search engines simultaneously. Camofox runs in Docker as a Firefox-based browser with a REST API for standard websites. CloakBrowser runs via npm as a stealth Chromium browser that bypasses anti-bot protections like Cloudflare. The skill uses deterministic scripts to prevent hallucinations, includes Readability.js for article extraction, and escalates from Camofox to CloakBrowser when sites block access. All components run locally on user hardware with no API keys or subscriptions. Installation requires Docker for SearXNG and Camofox, plus npm for CloakBrowser dependencies.
Should you self-host browser-search?
browser-search scores 52/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #86 of 209 in AI Agents. It has 539 GitHub stars.
It shipped 10 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v3.2.1, came out on 22 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 2 days.
Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in JavaScript.
Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Orca (91/100, 108 446 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See browser-search vs Orca side by side.
Features
- Anti-bot bypass
- Anti-hallucination design
- Article extraction with Readability.js
- Automatic escalation
- Browser automation via REST API
- Custom Playwright scripts
- Health checks and diagnostics
- Markdown Output
- Multi-engine web search
- Proxy and geoip support
- Rate Limiting
- Security audit script
- SSRF and DNS rebinding protection
browser-search README
More in Web Scraping
camofox-browserSelf-hosted, open-source browser server that drives the Camoufox Firefox engine through a REST API, evading Cloudflare and bot detection for AI agents.
Crawl4AICrawl4AI converts websites into LLM-ready Markdown for RAG and AI agents. Self-host via pip/Docker or use the cloud API. Open-source Apache-2.0.
CrawlabCrawlab is a self-hosted, open-source platform for managing distributed web crawlers and spiders in any language or framework, scaling across master and worker nodes.
crawlee-cloudCrawlee Cloud is a self-hosted, open-source platform for running Apify Actors on your own infrastructure with a web dashboard, CLI, and full Apify SDK compatibility.
crawler-buddySelf-hosted HTTP crawling server with unified JSON API for web scraping, RSS discovery, and metadata extraction from YouTube, Reddit, GitHub, HackerNews.
crwfastCRW is a self-hosted, open-source web scraping and search API in Rust with Firecrawl-compatible endpoints and native MCP server for AI agents.
figraniumFigranium is a self-hosted, open-source browser automation platform for building visual workflows and triggering them via REST API with scheduling and proxy rotation.
firecrawlSupercharge your AI agents with data from the web and beyond. Building the library for superintelligence. 🔥
flaresolverrSelf-hosted open-source proxy that drives a real Chrome browser to solve Cloudflare and DDoS-Guard challenges, returning cookies and HTML to your HTTP clients.
flight-finderSelf-hosted, open-source travel price tracker for flights, hotels, and car rentals using your own AI provider, with interactive charts and VPN price comparison.
FredyFredy monitors 29 European property portals, deduplicates listings, calculates affordability and travel times, sends notifications via Slack, Telegram, Email, Discord.
gpt-researcherSelf-hosted, open-source deep research agent: a planner splits your question, parallel researchers scan 20+ web or local sources, and it writes a cited report.
0 comments