YaCy

YaCy
Original author(s)Michael Christen
Developer(s)YaCy community
Initial release2003; 21 years ago (2003)[1]
Stable release
1.940 / 7 October 2024; 12 days ago (2024-10-07)[2][3]
Repositorygithub.com/yacy/yacy_search_server
Written inJava
Operating systemCross-platform
Size104-113 MB
TypeOverlay network, Search engine
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Websiteyacy.net/en/

YaCy (pronounced “ya see”) is a free distributed search engine built on the principles of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, created by Michael Christen in 2003.[4][5] The engine is written in Java and distributed on several hundred computers, as of September 2006[needs update], so-called YaCy-peers.

Each YaCy-peer independently crawls through the Internet, analyzes and indexes found web pages, and stores indexing results in a common database (so-called index) which is shared with other YaCy-peers using principles of peer-to-peer. This decentralized approach ensures privacy and eliminates the need for a central server.[6]

Compared to semi-distributed search engines, the YaCy network has a distributed architecture. All YaCy-peers are equal and no central server exists. It can be run either in a crawling mode or as a local proxy server, indexing web pages visited by the person running YaCy on their computer. Several mechanisms are provided to protect the user's privacy. Search functions are accessed by a locally run web server which provides a search box to enter search terms, and returns search results in a format similar to popular search engines.[7]

  1. ^ "Ich entwickle eine P2P-basierende Suchmaschine. Wer macht mit?". Heise Online (in German). 2003-12-15. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  2. ^ "Apache Server at download.yacy.net Port 443". 2024-06-01. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  3. ^ "Apache Server at release.yacy.net Port 443". 2024-10-07. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  4. ^ "YaCy takes on Google with open source search engine". The Register. 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  5. ^ "YaCy: It's About Freedom, Not Beating Google". PC World. 2011-12-03. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  6. ^ "Home - YaCy". yacy.net. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  7. ^ "FAQ - YaCy". yacy.net. Retrieved 2024-07-04.