SearXNG JSON API Disabled by Default, Causing Silent Failures in Third-Party Tools

Developers integrating SearXNG's JSON search API often encounter silent failures when their tools are run against public instances other than the one used during development. The root cause is that SearXNG disables JSON output by default, requiring instance operators to explicitly enable it in the settings.yml configuration file. Because many public instances do not enable JSON format, API calls may return HTML responses or nothing at all, which poorly handled error logic can misread as empty search results. Developers are advised to verify Content-Type headers before parsing responses and to consult the searx.space directory, which tracks which public instances support JSON output. For any sustained or programmatic use, self-hosting a personal SearXNG instance via Docker is recommended to avoid depending on volunteer-run public infrastructure.