WebSearch returns error code 403

[pomo9911]

What happened?

I configured LIbreChat for Web Search and the SerpApi systematically returns an error code 403 and the trafic stats on the SerpAPI site does not move. When I curl the search service from the same server, it works fine, the stats are incremented proving that my API key is correct and I still have credits. I am running the docker image: ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev:latest (780fb5abf524).

Version Information

Librechat seems to call the web many times, librechat says that it is processing the responses.

Steps to Reproduce

Configure the SERPERA_API_KEY
Turn on the "Web Search" option.
Write a prompt which answer requires recent data.
Check the log

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Chrome

Relevant log output

2026-01-27 21:43:35 error: [getUserPluginAuthValue] No plugin auth JINA_API_KEY found for user 696951977181decd232ca1a9
2026-01-27 21:43:39 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:43:42 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:43:43 error: [api/server/controllers/agents/client.js #sendCompletion] Operation aborted Aborted
2026-01-27 21:44:02 error: [getUserPluginAuthValue] No plugin auth JINA_API_KEY found for user 696951977181decd232ca1a9
2026-01-27 21:44:05 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:10 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:13 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:16 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:20 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:24 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:27 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:31 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:34 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-27 21:44:41 error: [api/server/controllers/agents/client.js #sendCompletion] Operation aborted Aborted

Screenshots

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[danny-avila]

2026-01-27 21:44:02 error: [getUserPluginAuthValue] No plugin auth JINA_API_KEY found for user 696951977181decd232ca1a9

Please review our docs on the web search feature:

https://www.librechat.ai/docs/features/web_search

[pomo9911]

I created an API key on the JINA site and I did the setup in the .env (both the key and the URL). This got me rid of the "[getUserPluginAuthValue] No plugin auth JINA_API_KEY found" message. But I still have 403 messages. I guess from serpAPI, since I don't see the number of request increasing on there side.

2026-01-29 21:01:16 info: [indexSync] Messages are fully synced: 100/100
2026-01-29 21:01:16 info: [indexSync] Conversations are fully synced: 27/27
2026-01-29 21:01:16 warn: [FlowStateManager] Cannot complete flow - flow state not found
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: RAG API is running and reachable at http://rag_api:8000.
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: No changes needed for 'USER' role permissions
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: No changes needed for 'ADMIN' role permissions
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: Server listening on all interfaces at port 3080. Use http://localhost:3080 to access it
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: [MCPServersRegistry] Creating new instance
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: OAuth reconnect manager initialized successfully.
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: [StreamServices] Created in-memory stream services
2026-01-29 21:01:17 info: [GenerationJobManager] Configured with in-memory stores
2026-01-29 21:01:29 info: [Login] [Login successful] [Username: pomo9911@gmail.com] [Request-IP: 192.168.1.140]
2026-01-29 21:01:29 error: Failed to load service key from file: /app/api/data/auth.json ENOENT: no such file or directory, stat '/app/api/data/auth.json'
2026-01-29 21:01:29 warn: [MCP_SERVERS] Forbidden: "/api/mcp/servers" - Insufficient permissions for User 696951977181decd232ca1a9: USE
2026-01-29 21:01:29 error: Failed to fetch models from openAI API The server responded with status 401: Request failed with status code 401
2026-01-29 21:01:29 error: Failed to fetch models from openAI API The server responded with status 401: Request failed with status code 401
2026-01-29 21:01:29 error: Failed to fetch models from openAI API The server responded with status 401: Request failed with status code 401
2026-01-29 21:01:30 warn: [MCP_SERVERS] Forbidden: "/api/mcp/servers" - Insufficient permissions for User 696951977181decd232ca1a9: USE
2026-01-29 21:01:54 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-29 21:01:54 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-29 21:01:54 error: Error in search: API request failed: Request failed with status code 403
2026-01-29 21:02:01 error: [api/server/controllers/agents/client.js #sendCompletion] Operation aborted Aborted

[quantenschaum]

same here, I set SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL to a self hosted instance w/o api key, searxng works when used through its own UI, but librechat gets 403

[quantenschaum]

solved: in searxng config settings.yml set

search:
  formats: [html, csv, json, rss]

then it started working for me