What Is Cognito AI Search?
At its core, Cognito AI Search is a minimalist, responsive interface that does two things incredibly well:
- Provides a local AI assistant using your own models via Ollama
- Offers private web search using your self-hosted SearXNG instance
It’s designed for people who care about privacy, who love the power of local AI models, and who are tired of being surveilled online. Whether you're a developer, a researcher, or just privacy-conscious, Cognito is your companion for secure knowledge discovery.
Why I Built It
Like many, I've grown increasingly frustrated with the trade-offs of modern search and AI tools. Fast? Sure. But private? Not even close. So I decided to build a tool I would use daily, something fast, beautiful, and completely under my control.
Cognito AI Search represents that personal mission. It's a fusion of two powerful open technologies, Ollama and SearXNG, wrapped in a clean, easy-to-use UI.
Feature Highlights
🔒 Complete Privacy
- No Tracking: Search queries and AI prompts never leave your device.
- No Ads, No Logs: There’s no analytics or tracking scripts.
- Self-Hosted: Run everything on your own infrastructure.
🤖 Local AI Assistant
- Supports popular models like LLaMA, Mistral, and others via Ollama
- Answers stay local, no cloud API keys or internet dependency
- Customize the model, max tokens, and behavior
- Perfect for writing, coding, or getting instant answers offline
🔍 Private Web Search
- Powered by SearXNG, an open-source metasearch engine
- Pulls unbiased results from multiple sources
- Does not store, analyze, or profile your queries
- Choose your own search engines and settings
⚡ Speed & Simplicity
- Fast startup: One pnpm dev command and you’re live
- Clean UI: Type, hit enter, done. AI on the left, Web on the right.
- Responsive Design: Works seamlessly on mobile, tablet, and desktop
- Zero Bloat: It’s lightweight and lightning-fast
Screenshot Preview
Here's a quick look at the UI in action:
Getting Started
Clone & Run in Minutes
git clone https://github.com/kekePower/cognito-ai-search.git
cd cognito-ai-search
pnpm install
pnpm dev
That’s it. Open your browser and start querying AI and the web side-by-side, privately.
Need Help?
I’ve also included a full HOWTO guide for setup and customization. Whether you’re new to Ollama or just want to tweak your SearXNG instance, you’ll find clear, no-BS help in the docs.
Designed for Builders & Privacy Enthusiasts
Cognito AI Search is for people who believe in reclaiming control over their digital experiences. Whether you're building your own personal AI stack, testing local models, or just fed up with the status quo of surveillance capitalism, Cognito lets you take back that power.
And since it's MIT-licensed and fully open source, you're free to fork it, improve it, or embed it into something even bigger. Contributions are more than welcome.
How You Can Get Involved
- ⭐ Star the project on GitHub to show support
- 🐛 Report bugs or edge cases you encounter
- 💡 Suggest new features or integrations
- 🤝 Contribute code, translations, or UI improvements
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning and I need your help and input to make this the best it can be. I am but one man and so far Cognito AI Search fulfills all my needs.
If you have ideas or feature requests, I’m all ears. Drop a GitHub issue or join the conversation.
Final Thoughts
Cognito AI Search is a small project with a big purpose, to give people a fast, private alternative to the mainstream search/AI duopoly. Built in a single-day coding sprint, yes, but packed with care, vision, and the belief that privacy should be a default, not a luxury.
Try it. Fork it. Break it. Improve it. Most importantly, use it.
You’ll find it here: Cognito AI Search on GitHub
Let’s build a web that works for us, not against us.