19 Feb 2026

feedDrupal.org aggregator

Drupal AI Initiative: SearXNG - Privacy-First Web Search for Drupal AI Assistants

If you've been following the rapid rise of AI‑driven chatbots and 'assistant‑as‑a‑service' platforms, you know one of the biggest pain points is trustworthy, privacy‑preserving web search. AI assistants need access to current information to be useful, yet traditional search engines track every query, building detailed user profiles.

Enter SearXNG - an open‑source metasearch engine that aggregates results from dozens of public search back‑ends while never storing personal data. The new Drupal module lets any Drupal‑based AI assistant (ChatGPT, LLM‑powered bots, custom agents) invoke SearXNG directly from the Drupal site, bringing privacy‑first searching in‑process with your content.

SearXNG

What is SearXNG?

SearXNG aggregates results from up to 247 search services without tracking or profiling users. Unlike Google, Bing or other mainstream search engines, SearXNG removes private data from search requests and doesn't forward anything from third-party services.

Think of it as a privacy-preserving intermediary: your query goes to SearXNG, which then queries multiple search engines on your behalf and aggregates the results, all while keeping your identity completely anonymous.

The Drupal SearXNG Module

The Drupal SearXNG module brings this privacy-focused search capability directly into the Drupal ecosystem. It connects Drupal with your preferred SearXNG server (local or remote), includes a demonstration block, and provides an additional submodule that integrates SearXNG with Drupal AI by offering an AI Agent Tool.

This integration is particularly powerful when combined with Drupal's growing AI ecosystem, including the AI module framework, AI Agents and AI Assistants API.

Key Benefits

Privacy by design

The most compelling benefit is complete privacy protection. When your Drupal AI assistant uses SearXNG to search the web:

  • No user tracking or profiling occurs
  • Search queries aren't stored or analysed
  • IP addresses remain private
  • No targeted advertising based on searches
  • Compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR

This makes it ideal for organisations in healthcare, government, education and any sector where data privacy is paramount.

Comprehensive search results

By aggregating results from up to 247 search services, SearXNG provides more diverse and comprehensive search results than relying on a single search engine. Your AI assistant gets a broader perspective, potentially finding information that might be missed by individual search engines.

Self-hosted control

Organisations can run their own SearXNG instance, giving them complete control over:

  • Which search engines to query
  • Rate limiting and usage patterns
  • Data residency requirements
  • Custom configurations and preferences
  • Complete audit trails

Getting started is remarkably straightforward thanks to SearXNG's official Docker image, which makes launching a local server as simple as running a single command. This means organisations can have their own private search instance running in minutes, without complex server configuration or dependencies.

Seamless AI integration

The module's AI Agent Tool integration means that Drupal AI assistants can seamlessly incorporate web search into their workflows. Whether it's a chatbot helping users navigate your site or an AI assistant helping content creators research topics, web search becomes just another capability in the assistant's toolkit.

Practical Use Cases

Internal knowledge assistants

Imagine a corporate intranet where employees use an AI assistant to find both internal documentation and external resources. The assistant can search your internal Drupal content while using SearXNG to find external information, all while maintaining complete privacy about what employees are researching.

Privacy-conscious educational platforms

Universities and schools increasingly need to protect student privacy. A Drupal-powered learning management system with an AI tutor can use SearXNG to help students research topics without creating profiles of their academic interests and struggles.

Government and public sector portals

Government organisations can leverage AI assistants to help citizens find information and services. Using SearXNG ensures that citizen queries remain private and aren't used for commercial purposes.

The Future of Privacy-First AI

The SearXNG Drupal module represents an important step forward in building AI systems that respect user privacy. As AI assistants become more prevalent in web applications, the ability to access current information without compromising privacy will become increasingly valuable.

Drupal's AI framework supports over 48 AI platforms, providing flexibility in choosing AI providers. By combining this with privacy-respecting search through SearXNG, organisations can build powerful, intelligent applications that align with growing privacy expectations and regulations.

Conclusion

Privacy and powerful AI don't have to be mutually exclusive. The SearXNG Drupal module proves that organisations can build intelligent, helpful AI assistants that respect user privacy. Whether you're building internal tools, public-facing applications, or specialised platforms, this module provides a foundation for privacy-first AI that can search the web without compromising user trust.

As data privacy regulations continue to evolve and users become more aware of digital privacy issues, tools like the SearXNG module will become increasingly essential. By adopting privacy-first approaches now, organisations can build user trust while delivering the intelligent, helpful experiences that modern web applications demand.

Find out more and download on the dedicated SearXNG Drupal project page.

19 Feb 2026 9:15am GMT

18 Feb 2026

feedDrupal.org aggregator

A Drupal Couple: The Blueprint for Affordable Drupal Projects

The Blueprint for Affordable Drupal Projects

Image
Development team collaborating around a workshop table with laptops, sticky notes, wireframe sketches, and coffee during an evening work session
Article body

For years we have been talking about how Drupal got too expensive for the markets we used to serve. Regional clients, small and medium businesses in Latin America, Africa, Asia, anywhere where $100,000 websites are simply not a reality. We watched them go to WordPress. We watched them go to Wix. Not because Drupal was worse, but because the economics stopped working.

That conversation is changing.

Drupal CMS 2.0 landed in January 2026. And with it came a set of tools that, combined intelligently, make something possible that was not realistic before: an affordable, professional Drupal site delivered for $2,000, with margin, for markets that could not afford us before.

I want to show you the math. Not to sell you a fantasy, but because I did the exercise and the numbers work. And I am being conservative.

What changed

The real budget killer was always theming. Getting a site to look right, behave right, be maintainable, took serious senior hours. That is where budgets went.

Recipes pre-package common configurations so you are not starting from zero. Canvas lets clients and site builders assemble and manage pages visually once a developer sets up the component library.

Dripyard brings professional Drupal themes built specifically for Canvas (although works with Layout Builder, Paragraphs, etc), with excellent quality and accessibility, at around $500. While that seems expensive, the code quality, designs, and accessibility are top notch and will save at least 20 hours (and usually much more), which would easily eat up a small budget.

Three tools. One problem solved.

We proved the concept about a month ago with laollita.es, built in three days using Umami as a starting point. Umami as a version 0.5 of what a proper template should be. Drupal AI for translations, AI-assisted development for CSS and small components. Without formal templates. With proper ones, it gets faster.

The $2,000 blueprint

Scope first. Most small business sites are simple: services, about us, blog, team, contact. The moment you add custom modules or complex requirements, the budget goes up. This blueprint is for projects that accept that constraint.

Start with Drupal CMS and a Dripyard theme. Recipes handle the configuration. Add AI assistance, a paid plan with a capable model, Claude runs between $15 and $50 depending on usage. Let it help you move faster, but supervise everything. The moment you stop reviewing AI decisions is the moment quality starts leaking.

For hosting, go with a Drupal CMS-specific provider like Drupito, Drupal Forge, or Flexsite, around $20 to $50 per month. Six months included for your client is $300. Those same $300 could go toward a site template from the marketplace launching at DrupalCon Chicago in March 2026, compressing your development time further.

With a constrained scope, the right tools, and AI under supervision, ten hours of net work is realistic. At LATAM-viable rates, $30 per hour on the high side, that is $300 in labor.

The cost breakdown: $500 theme, $300 hosting or template, $300 labor, $50 AI tools. Total: $1,150. Add a $300 buffer and you are at $1,450. Charge $2,000. Your profit is $550, a 27.5% margin.

And I am being conservative. As you build experience with the theme, develop your own component library, and refine your tooling, the numbers improve. The first project teaches you. The third one pays better.

The $1,000 path

Smaller budget, smaller scope. Start with Byte or Haven, two Drupal CMS site templates on Drupal.org, or generate an HTML template with AI for around $50. A site template from the upcoming marketplace will run around $300.

The math: $300 starting point, $150 for three months of hosting, $200 incidentals. Cost: $450. Charge $1,000. Margin: 35%.

A $1,000 project is a few pages, clear scope, no special requirements. Both you and the client have to be honest about that upfront.

The real value for your client

When a client chooses Wix or WordPress to save money, they are choosing a ceiling. The day they need more, they are either rebuilding from scratch or paying for plugins and extras that someone still has to configure, maintain, and update every time the platform breaks something.

A client on Drupal CMS is on a platform that grows with them. The five-page site today can become a complex application tomorrow, on the same platform, without migrating. That is the conversation worth having. Not just what they get today, but what they will never have to undo.

The tools are there

The market in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and similar regions was always there. We just did not have the tools to serve it profitably. Now we do.

Drupal CMS, Canvas, Recipes, Dripyard, Drupal CMS-specific hosting, AI assistance with human oversight. The toolkit exists. Get back on trail.

Author
Carlos Ospina
Abstract
Drupal CMS 2.0, Canvas, Recipes, and Dripyard have changed the economics of Drupal for regional markets. This is the blueprint for building professional Drupal sites at $1,000 to $2,000 with real margin, for LATAM, Africa, Asia, and similar markets that Drupal could not serve before.
Tags
Drupal
Drupal Planet
drupal-cms
canvas
recipes
dripyard
affordable-development
small-business
latam
africa
asia
blueprint
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18 Feb 2026 11:23pm GMT

DDEV Blog: DDEV February 2026: v1.25.0 Ships, 72% Market Share, and New Training Posts

Nancy Lewis: The Beauty of Buford

DDEV v1.25.0 is here, and the community response has been strong. This month also brought three new training blog posts and a survey result that speaks for itself.

What's New

CraftQuest Survey: DDEV at 72%

The 2026 CraftQuest Community Survey↗ collected responses from 253 Craft CMS developers and found DDEV at 72% market share for local development environments. The report notes: "This near-standardization simplifies onboarding for newcomers, reduces support burden for plugin developers, and means the ecosystem can optimize tooling around a single local dev workflow."

Conference Time!

I'll be at Florida Drupalcamp this week, and will speak on how to use git worktree to run multiple versions of the same site. I'd love to see you and sit down and hear your experience with DDEV and ways you think it could be better.

Then in March I'll be at DrupalCon Chicago and as usual will do lots of Birds-of-a-Feather sessions about DDEV and related topics. Catch me in the hall, or let's sit down and have a coffee.

Community Highlights

Community Tutorials from Around the World

What People Are Saying

"I was today years old when I found out that DDEV exists. Now I am busy migrating all projects to Docker containers." - @themuellerman.bsky.social↗

"ddev is the reason I don't throw my laptop out of the window during local setup wars. one command to run the stack and forget the rest. simple as that." - @OMascatinho on X↗

v1.25.0 Upgrade Notes and Known Issues

Every major release brings some friction, and v1.25.0 is no exception. These will generally be solved in v1.25.1, which will be out soon. Here's what to watch for:

As always, please open an issue↗ if you run into trouble - it helps us fix things faster. You're the reason DDEV works so well!

DDEV Training Continues

Join us for upcoming training sessions for contributors and users.

Zoom Info: Link: Join Zoom Meeting Passcode: 12345

Sponsorship Update

After the community rallied in January, sponsorship has held steady and ticked up slightly. Thank you!

Previous status (January 2026): ~$8,208/month (68% of goal)

February 2026: ~$8,422/month (70% of goal)

If DDEV has helped your team, now is the time to give back. Whether you're an individual developer, an agency, or an organization - your contribution makes a difference. → Become a sponsor↗

Contact us to discuss sponsorship options that work for your organization.

Stay in the Loop-Follow Us and Join the Conversation

Compiled and edited with assistance from Claude Code.

18 Feb 2026 7:49pm GMT

29 Jan 2026

feedW3C - Blog

2025 World Wide Web Consortium Membership Survey

This post gives a summary of the results of the 2025 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Membership Survey.

29 Jan 2026 9:38am GMT

20 Jan 2026

feedW3C - Blog

Strengthening Community Engagement at TPAC 2025: looking back at the IE & inclusion Funds

Sylvia Cadena, W3C Chief Development Officer, reports on coordinating the TPAC 2025 inclusion fund and W3C Invited Expert fund, aimed to reduce barriers for participants who are contributing to W3C's work, and that are part of W3C's effort to strengthen our Community Engagement program.

20 Jan 2026 3:06pm GMT

18 Jan 2026

feedOfficial jQuery Blog

jQuery 4.0.0

On January 14, 2006, John Resig introduced a JavaScript library called jQuery at BarCamp in New York City. Now, 20 years later, the jQuery team is happy to announce the final release of jQuery 4.0.0. After a long development cycle and several pre-releases, jQuery 4.0.0 brings many improvements and modernizations. It is the first major … Continue reading →

18 Jan 2026 12:29am GMT

14 Jan 2026

feedW3C - Blog

EPUB and HTML - Survey results and next steps

Mid-2025, the Publishing Maintenance Working Group (PMWG) ran a survey in the publishing community to ask: should we allow HTML in EPUB? The survey results and their discussions were invaluable in helping decide to not add HTML to EPUB 3.4, and to take a new approach on HTML and digital publications.

14 Jan 2026 12:38pm GMT

11 Aug 2025

feedOfficial jQuery Blog

jQuery 4.0.0 Release Candidate 1

It's here! Almost. jQuery 4.0.0-rc.1 is now available. It's our way of saying, "we think this is ready; now poke it with many sticks". If nothing is found that requires a second release candidate, jQuery 4.0.0 final will follow. Please try out this release and let us know if you encounter any issues. A 4.0 … Continue reading →

11 Aug 2025 5:35pm GMT

17 Jul 2024

feedOfficial jQuery Blog

Second Beta of jQuery 4.0.0

Last February, we released the first beta of jQuery 4.0.0. We're now ready to release a second, and we expect a release candidate to come soon™. This release comes with a major rewrite to jQuery's testing infrastructure, which removed all deprecated or under-supported dependencies. But the main change that warranted a second beta was a … Continue reading →

17 Jul 2024 2:03pm GMT

29 May 2023

feedSmiley Cat: Christian Watson's Web Design Blog

7 Types of Article Headlines: Craft the Perfect Title Every Time

When it comes to crafting an article, the headline is crucial for grabbing the reader's attention and enticing them to read further. In this post, I'll explore the 7 types of article headlines and provide examples for each using the subjects of product management, user experience design, and search engine optimization. 1. The Know-it-All The […]

The post 7 Types of Article Headlines: Craft the Perfect Title Every Time first appeared on Smiley Cat.

29 May 2023 10:20pm GMT

09 Apr 2023

feedSmiley Cat: Christian Watson's Web Design Blog

5 Product Management Myths You Need to Stop Believing

Product management is one of the most exciting and rewarding careers in the tech world. But it's also one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented. There are many myths and misconceptions that cloud the reality of what product managers do, how they do it, and what skills they need to succeed. In this blog post, […]

The post 5 Product Management Myths You Need to Stop Believing first appeared on Smiley Cat.

09 Apr 2023 5:28pm GMT

11 Dec 2022

feedSmiley Cat: Christian Watson's Web Design Blog

The Key Strengths of the Best Product Managers

The role of a product manager is crucial to the success of any product. They are responsible for managing the entire product life cycle, from conceptualization to launch and beyond. A product manager must possess a unique blend of skills and qualities to be effective in their role. Strong strategic thinking A product manager must […]

The post The Key Strengths of the Best Product Managers first appeared on Smiley Cat.

11 Dec 2022 4:43pm GMT