DDGS | Dux Distributed Global Search
A metasearch library that aggregates results from diverse web search services.
Table of Contents
- Install
- CLI version
- API Server
- MCP Server
- Engines
- DDGS class
- 1. text()
- 2. images()
- 3. videos()
- 4. news()
- 5. books()
- 6. extract()
- Disclaimer
Install
pip install -U ddgs # Base install
pip install -U ddgs[api] # API server (FastAPI)
pip install -U ddgs[mcp] # MCP server (stdio)
CLI version
ddgs - -help
API Server
-- Install
pip install -U ddgs[api]
-- CLI
ddgs api # Start server in foreground
ddgs api -d # Start in detached mode (background)
ddgs api -s # Stop detached server
ddgs api --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4479 # Default port 4479
ddgs api -pr socks5h://127.0.0.1:9150 # With proxy
-- Docker compose
git clone https://github.com/deedy5/ddgs && cd ddgs
docker-compose up --build
-- Bash script
git clone https://github.com/deedy5/ddgs && cd ddgs
chmod +x start_api.sh
./start_api.sh
Endpoints
MCP Server
- Install
pip install -U ddgs[mcp]
- CLI
ddgs mcp # Start MCP server (stdio transport)
ddgs mcp -pr socks5h://127.0.0.1:9150 # With proxy
Available Tools
Client Configuration
For MCP clients like Cursor or Claude Desktop:
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddgs": {
"command": "ddgs",
"args": ["mcp"]
}
}
}
Engines
DDGS class
DDGS class is lazy-loaded.
class DDGS:
"""Dux Distributed Global Search. A metasearch library that aggregates results from diverse web search services.
Args:
proxy (str, optional): proxy for the HTTP client, supports http/https/socks5 protocols.
example: "http://user:[email protected]:3128". Defaults to None.
timeout (int, optional): Timeout value for the HTTP client. Defaults to 5.
verify: (bool | str): True to verify, False to skip, or a str path to a PEM file. Defaults to True.
"""
Here is an example of initializing the DDGS class.
from ddgs import DDGS
results = DDGS().text("python programming", max_results=5)
print(results)
1. text()
def text(
query: str,
region: str = "us-en",
safesearch: str = "moderate",
timelimit: str | None = None,
max_results: int | None = 10,
page: int = 1,
backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
"""DDGS text metasearch.
Args:
query: text search query.
region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
timelimit: d, w, m, y. Defaults to None.
max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
Returns:
List of dictionaries with search results.
"""
Example
results = DDGS().text("live free or die", region="us-en", safesearch="off", timelimit="y", page=1, backend="auto")
# Searching for pdf files
results = DDGS().text("russia filetype:pdf", region="us-en", safesearch="off", timelimit="y", page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
{
"title": "News, sport, celebrities and gossip | The Sun",
"href": "https://www.thesun.co.uk/",
"body": "Get the latest news, exclusives, sport, celebrities, showbiz, politics, business and lifestyle from The Sun",
},
...,
]
2. images()
def images(
query: str,
region: str = "us-en",
safesearch: str = "moderate",
timelimit: str | None = None,
max_results: int | None = 10,
page: int = 1,
backend: str = "auto",
size: str | None = None,
color: str | None = None,
type_image: str | None = None,
layout: str | None = None,
license_image: str | None = None,
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
"""DDGS images metasearch.
Args:
query: images search query.
region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
timelimit: d, w, m, y. Defaults to None.
max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
size: Small, Medium, Large, Wallpaper. Defaults to None.
color: color, Monochrome, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Purple, Pink, Brown, Black, Gray, Teal, White. Defaults to None.
type_image: photo, clipart, gif, transparent, line.
Defaults to None.
layout: Square, Tall, Wide. Defaults to None.
license_image: any (All Creative Commons), Public (PublicDomain),
Share (Free to Share and Use), ShareCommercially (Free to Share and Use Commercially),
Modify (Free to Modify, Share, and Use), ModifyCommercially (Free to Modify, Share, and
Use Commercially). Defaults to None.
Returns:
List of dictionaries with images search results.
"""
Example
results = DDGS().images(
query="butterfly",
region="us-en",
safesearch="off",
timelimit="m",
page=1,
backend="auto",
size=None,
color="Monochrome",
type_image=None,
layout=None,
license_image=None,
)
print(images)
[
{
"title": "File:The Sun by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of NASA's Solar ...",
"image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/The_Sun_by_the_Atmospheric_Imaging_Assembly_of_NASA's_Solar_Dynamics_Observatory_-_20100819.jpg",
"thumbnail": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.lNgpqGl16U0ft3rS8TdFcgEsEe&pid=Api",
"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sun_by_the_Atmospheric_Imaging_Assembly_of_NASA's_Solar_Dynamics_Observatory_-_20100819.jpg",
"height": 3860,
"width": 4044,
"source": "Bing",
},
...,
]
3. videos()
def videos(
query: str,
region: str = "us-en",
safesearch: str = "moderate",
timelimit: str | None = None,
max_results: int | None = 10,
page: int = 1,
backend: str = "auto",
resolution: str | None = None,
duration: str | None = None,
license_videos: str | None = None,
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
"""DDGS videos metasearch.
Args:
query: videos search query.
region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
timelimit: d, w, m. Defaults to None.
max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
resolution: high, standart. Defaults to None.
duration: short, medium, long. Defaults to None.
license_videos: creativeCommon, youtube. Defaults to None.
Returns:
List of dictionaries with videos search results.
"""
Example
results = DDGS().videos(
query="cars",
region="us-en",
safesearch="off",
timelimit="w",
page=1,
backend="auto",
resolution="high",
duration="medium",
)
print(results)
[
{
"content": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6901-C73P3g",
"description": "Watch the Best Scenes of popular Tamil Serial #Meena that airs on Sun TV. Watch all Sun TV serials immediately after the TV telecast on Sun NXT app. *Free for Indian Users only Download here: Android - http://bit.ly/SunNxtAdroid iOS: India - http://bit.ly/sunNXT Watch on the web - https://www.sunnxt.com/ Two close friends, Chidambaram ...",
"duration": "8:22",
"embed_html": '<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6901-C73P3g?autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>',
"embed_url": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/6901-C73P3g?autoplay=1",
"image_token": "6c070b5f0e24e5972e360d02ddeb69856202f97718ea6c5d5710e4e472310fa3",
"images": {
"large": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
"medium": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
"motion": "",
"small": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
},
"provider": "Bing",
"published": "2024-07-03T05:30:03.0000000",
"publisher": "YouTube",
"statistics": {"viewCount": 29059},
"title": "Meena - Best Scenes | 02 July 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV",
"uploader": "Sun TV",
},
...,
]
4. news()
def news(
query: str,
region: str = "us-en",
safesearch: str = "moderate",
timelimit: str | None = None,
max_results: int | None = 10,
page: int = 1,
backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
"""DDGS news metasearch.
Args:
query: news search query.
region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
timelimit: d, w, m. Defaults to None.
max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
Returns:
List of dictionaries with news search results.
"""
Example
results = DDGS().news(query="sun", region="us-en", safesearch="off", timelimit="m", page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
{
"date": "2024-07-03T16:25:22+00:00",
"title": "Murdoch's Sun Endorses Starmer's Labour Day Before UK Vote",
"body": "Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper endorsed Keir Starmer and his opposition Labour Party to win the UK general election, a dramatic move in the British media landscape that illustrates the country's shifting political sands.",
"url": "https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/murdoch-s-sun-endorses-starmer-s-labour-day-before-uk-vote/ar-BB1plQwl",
"image": "https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1plZil.img?w=2000&h=1333&m=4&q=79",
"source": "Bloomberg on MSN.com",
},
...,
]
5. books()
def books(
query: str,
max_results: int | None = 10,
page: int = 1,
backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
"""DDGS books metasearch.
Args:
query: news search query.
max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
Returns:
List of dictionaries with news search results.
"""
Example
results = DDGS().books(query="sea wolf jack london", page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
{
"title": "The Sea-Wolf",
"author": "Jack London",
"publisher": "DigiCat, 2022",
"info": "English [en], .epub, 🚀/zlib, 0.5MB, 📗 Book (unknown)",
"url": "https://annas-archive.li/md5/574f6556f1df6717de4044e36c7c2782",
"thumbnail": "https://s3proxy.cdn-zlib.sk//covers299/collections/userbooks/da4954486be7c2b2b9f70b2aa5bcf01292de3ea510b5656f892821950ded9ada.jpg",
},
...,
]
6. extract()
Fetch a URL and extract its content in various formats.
def extract(
url: str,
fmt: str = "text_markdown",
) -> dict[str, str | bytes]:
"""Fetch a URL and extract its content.
Args:
url: The URL to fetch and extract content from.
fmt: Output format:
"text_markdown" (HTML→Markdown, preserves links/headers/lists),
"text_plain" (HTML→plain text),
"text_rich" (HTML→rich text with headers/lists),
"text" (raw HTML),
"content" (raw bytes).
Returns:
Dictionary with 'url' and 'content' keys.
"""
Examples
# Markdown (default) - preserves links, headers, lists
result = DDGS().extract("https://example.com")
print(result)
{"url": "https://example.com", "content": "# Example Domain\n\nThis domain is for use in..."}
# Plain text
result = DDGS().extract("https://example.com", fmt="text_plain")
# Rich text (headers/lists, no link URLs)
result = DDGS().extract("https://example.com", fmt="text_rich")
# Raw HTML
result = DDGS().extract("https://example.com", fmt="text")
# Raw bytes
result = DDGS().extract("https://example.com", fmt="content")
CLI
ddgs extract -u https://example.com
ddgs extract -u https://example.com -f text_plain
ddgs extract -u https://example.com -f content -o output.json
Disclaimer
This library is for educational purposes only.
