Vane
by ItzCrazyKns
Vane is a self-hosted AI answering engine that searches the web through SearxNG and uses a language model to write answers with cited sources. It is for people who want a private alternative to AI search services, running on their own hardware.
- Stars
- 37.8k
- Licence
- MIT
- Runs on
- A small server
- Setup
- Moderate
- Language
- TypeScript
- Age
- 931 days
What you can do with it
- Ask questions and get answers with cited web sources
- Upload PDFs or text files and ask questions about them
- Limit searches to chosen websites or academic papers for research
Make money with it
A freelancer could use it to produce faster, sourced research reports or briefing documents as a paid service for clients.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Give a small team a private research tool for market, competitor and technical questions without paying per-seat AI search fees
- Use it to speed up client research and background reading as a freelancer or consultant
Can you use it commercially?
Free to use, change and sell, including in paid products. Keep the copyright notice.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
Run a single Docker command that bundles Vane and SearxNG, then open localhost:3000 and add your model settings or API keys on the setup screen.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- Needs a language model: either paid cloud API keys or a local model such as Ollama, which may need a GPU for good speed
- Answer quality depends on the model and search results you choose
Who's talking about it
Checked 27 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
