padenot · padenot · Aug 5, 2026 · Jul 31, 2026 · Aug 5, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ A command-line interface for searching Mozilla codebases using searchfox.org, wr
 
 Also available as a Rust library (`searchfox-lib`) and Python package (`searchfox-py`).
 
+Set `SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL` to point at a different server (e.g. a local mozsearch instance: `SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:16995`); defaults to `https://searchfox.org`.
+
 ## Features
 
 - Search across multiple Mozilla repositories (mozilla-central, beta, release, ESR branches, comm-central)

diff --git a/searchfox-cli/src/main.rs b/searchfox-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 #[command(
     name = "searchfox-cli",
     about = "Searchfox CLI for Mozilla code search",
-    long_about = "A command-line interface for searching Mozilla codebases using searchfox.org.\n\nExamples:\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream -C -l 10\n  searchfox-cli -q '^Audio.*' -r\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream -p ^dom/media\n  searchfox-cli -p PContent.ipdl  # Search for files by path only\n  searchfox-cli --get-file dom/media/AudioStream.h\n  searchfox-cli --symbol AudioContext\n  searchfox-cli --symbol 'AudioContext::CreateGain'\n  searchfox-cli --id main\n  searchfox-cli -q 'path:dom/media AudioStream'\n  searchfox-cli -q 'symbol:AudioContext' --context 3\n  searchfox-cli --define 'AudioContext::CreateGain'\n  searchfox-cli --calls-from 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext::CreateGain' --depth 2\n  searchfox-cli --calls-to 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext::CreateGain' --depth 3\n  searchfox-cli --calls-between 'AudioContext,AudioNode' --depth 2\n  searchfox-cli --field-layout 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext'"
+    long_about = "A command-line interface for searching Mozilla codebases using searchfox.org.\n\nExamples:\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream -C -l 10\n  searchfox-cli -q '^Audio.*' -r\n  searchfox-cli -q AudioStream -p ^dom/media\n  searchfox-cli -p PContent.ipdl  # Search for files by path only\n  searchfox-cli --get-file dom/media/AudioStream.h\n  searchfox-cli --symbol AudioContext\n  searchfox-cli --symbol 'AudioContext::CreateGain'\n  searchfox-cli --id main\n  searchfox-cli -q 'path:dom/media AudioStream'\n  searchfox-cli -q 'symbol:AudioContext' --context 3\n  searchfox-cli --define 'AudioContext::CreateGain'\n  searchfox-cli --calls-from 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext::CreateGain' --depth 2\n  searchfox-cli --calls-to 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext::CreateGain' --depth 3\n  searchfox-cli --calls-between 'AudioContext,AudioNode' --depth 2\n  searchfox-cli --field-layout 'mozilla::dom::AudioContext'\n\nEnvironment:\n  SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL  Override the server base URL (default: https://searchfox.org)"
 )]
 struct Args {
     #[arg(short, long, help = "Search query string")]
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
     if args.log_requests {
         eprintln!("=== REQUEST LOGGING ENABLED ===");
         if let Err(e) = client.ping().await {
-            eprintln!("[PING] Warning: Could not ping searchfox.org: {e}");
+            eprintln!("[PING] Warning: Could not ping {}: {e}", client.base_url());
         }
         eprintln!("================================");
     }
@@ -445,7 +445,14 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
                     if let Some((start, end)) = extract_line_range_from_output(&context) {
                         println!(
                             "{}",
-                            generate_link(&client.repo, file_path, start, end, hash.as_deref())
+                            generate_link(
+                                client.base_url(),
+                                &client.repo,
+                                file_path,
+                                start,
+                                end,
+                                hash.as_deref()
+                            )
                         );
                     }
                 }
@@ -493,7 +500,14 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
             };
             println!(
                 "{}",
-                generate_link(&client.repo, path, start, end, hash.as_deref())
+                generate_link(
+                    client.base_url(),
+                    &client.repo,
+                    path,
+                    start,
+                    end,
+                    hash.as_deref()
+                )
             );
         } else {
             let content = client.get_file(path).await?;
@@ -641,8 +655,13 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
                 println!("### {category}\n");
                 for r in group {
                     println!(
-                        "- {}:{} — https://searchfox.org/{}/source/{}#{}",
-                        r.path, r.line_number, args.repo, r.path, r.line_number
+                        "- {}:{} — {}/{}/source/{}#{}",
+                        r.path,
+                        r.line_number,
+                        client.base_url(),
+                        args.repo,
+                        r.path,
+                        r.line_number
                     );
                 }
                 println!();
@@ -665,6 +684,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
                 println!(
                     "{}",
                     generate_link(
+                        client.base_url(),
                         &client.repo,
                         &result.path,
                         result.line_number,
@@ -746,6 +766,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 }
 
 fn generate_link(
+    base_url: &str,
     repo: &str,
     path: &str,
     start_line: usize,
@@ -761,14 +782,8 @@ fn generate_link(
     };
     let rev_repo = searchfox_url_repo(repo);
     match hash {
-        Some(h) => format!(
-            "https://searchfox.org/{}/rev/{}/{}{}",
-            rev_repo, h, path, fragment
-        ),
-        None => format!(
-            "https://searchfox.org/{}/source/{}{}",
-            rev_repo, path, fragment
-        ),
+        Some(h) => format!("{}/{}/rev/{}/{}{}", base_url, rev_repo, h, path, fragment),
+        None => format!("{}/{}/source/{}{}", base_url, rev_repo, path, fragment),
     }
 }
 

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/blame.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/blame.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 impl SearchfoxClient {
     pub async fn get_head_hash(&self) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
         let url = format!(
-            "https://searchfox.org/{}/commit-info/HEAD",
+            "{}/{}/commit-info/HEAD",
+            self.base_url,
             searchfox_url_repo(&self.repo)
         );
         let response = self.get_raw(&url).await?;
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
             .filter(|h| h.len() == 40 && h.chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_hexdigit()))
         {
             let hgrev_url = format!(
-                "https://searchfox.org/{}/hgrev/{}",
+                "{}/{}/hgrev/{}",
+                self.base_url,
                 searchfox_url_repo(&self.repo),
                 hg_hash
             );
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
         lines: &[usize],
     ) -> Result<HashMap<usize, BlameInfo>> {
         // Fetch the HTML page for the file
-        let url = format!("https://searchfox.org/{}/source/{}", self.repo, path);
+        let url = format!("{}/{}/source/{}", self.base_url, self.repo, path);
         let html = self.get_html(&url).await?;
 
         // Parse blame data from HTML
@@ -135,10 +137,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
 
         for chunk in revs.chunks(BATCH_SIZE) {
             let revs_str = chunk.join(",");
-            let url = format!(
-                "https://searchfox.org/{}/commit-info/{}",
-                self.repo, revs_str
-            );
+            let url = format!("{}/{}/commit-info/{}", self.base_url, self.repo, revs_str);
 
             let response = self.get_raw(&url).await?;
             let mut commit_infos: Vec<CommitInfo> = serde_json::from_str(&response)?;

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/call_graph.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/call_graph.rs
@@ -262,10 +262,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
             anyhow::bail!("No call graph query specified");
         };
 
-        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!(
-            "https://searchfox.org/{}/query/default",
-            self.repo
-        ))?;
+        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("{}/{}/query/default", self.base_url, self.repo))?;
         url.query_pairs_mut().append_pair("q", &query_string);
 
         let response = self.get(url).await?;

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/can_gc.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/can_gc.rs
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
 
     async fn resolve_full_names(&self, symbol: &str) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
         let query = format!("id:{symbol}");
-        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("https://searchfox.org/{}/search", self.repo))?;
+        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("{}/{}/search", self.base_url, self.repo))?;
         url.query_pairs_mut().append_pair("q", &query);
 
         let response = self.get(url).await?;

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/client.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/client.rs
@@ -22,11 +22,14 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
             crate::cache::prune(&conn);
             std::sync::Mutex::new(conn)
         });
+        let base_url = std::env::var("SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL")
+            .map(|v| v.trim_end_matches('/').to_string())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|_| "https://searchfox.org".to_string());
         Ok(Self {
             client,
             repo,
             log_requests,
-            base_url: "https://searchfox.org".to_string(),
+            base_url,
             request_counter: std::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize::new(0),
             cache,
             cache_enabled: true,
@@ -133,15 +136,16 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
         }
 
         eprintln!(
-            "[PING] Testing network latency to searchfox.org (ICMP ping disabled, using HTTP HEAD)..."
+            "[PING] Testing network latency to {} (ICMP ping disabled, using HTTP HEAD)...",
+            self.base_url
         );
 
-        let ping_url = "https://searchfox.org/";
+        let ping_url = format!("{}/", self.base_url);
         let start = Instant::now();
 
         let response = self
             .client
-            .head(ping_url)
+            .head(&ping_url)
             .timeout(Duration::from_secs(10))
             .send()
             .await?;
@@ -266,6 +270,10 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
         &self.client
     }
 
+    pub fn base_url(&self) -> &str {
+        &self.base_url
+    }
+
     pub fn set_cache_enabled(&mut self, enabled: bool) {
         self.cache_enabled = enabled;
     }

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/field_layout.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/field_layout.rs
@@ -249,10 +249,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
     pub async fn search_field_layout(&self, query: &FieldLayoutQuery) -> Result<serde_json::Value> {
         let query_string = format!("field-layout:'{}'", query.class_name);
 
-        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!(
-            "https://searchfox.org/{}/query/default",
-            self.repo
-        ))?;
+        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("{}/{}/query/default", self.base_url, self.repo))?;
         url.query_pairs_mut().append_pair("q", &query_string);
 
         let response = self.get(url).await?;

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/search.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/search.rs
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
     pub async fn search(&self, options: &SearchOptions) -> Result<Vec<SearchResult>> {
         let query = options.build_query();
 
-        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("https://searchfox.org/{}/search", self.repo))?;
+        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("{}/{}/search", self.base_url, self.repo))?;
         url.query_pairs_mut()
             .append_pair("q", &query)
             .append_pair("case", if options.case { "true" } else { "false" })
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ impl SearchfoxClient {
             symbol.to_string()
         };
         let query = format!("id:{search_symbol}");
-        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("https://searchfox.org/{}/search", self.repo))?;
+        let mut url = Url::parse(&format!("{}/{}/search", self.base_url, self.repo))?;
         url.query_pairs_mut().append_pair("q", &query);
         if let Some(path) = path_filter {
             url.query_pairs_mut().append_pair("path", path);

diff --git a/searchfox-lib/src/utils.rs b/searchfox-lib/src/utils.rs
@@ -213,6 +213,11 @@ pub fn is_potential_definition(line: &Line, query: &str) -> bool {
 }
 
 pub fn searchfox_url_repo(repo: &str) -> &str {
+    // The firefox-* renames only exist on searchfox.org; a server behind
+    // SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL serves trees under their configured names verbatim.
+    if std::env::var("SEARCHFOX_BASE_URL").is_ok() {
+        return repo;
+    }
     match repo {
         "mozilla-central" => "firefox-main",
         "mozilla-beta" => "firefox-beta",