Runnaroo
Web and SaaS
search engine
SHOW HN2020
380points
196comments
#95of 3,028 in 2020
Top 4%of 2020 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
24 positive, 40 neutral or asking, 10 mixed, 21 critical, out of 95 comments about the project. Thread score +0.02.
Execution: 6 for, 7 againstDesign: 1 for, 7 againstIdea: 3 for, 4 againstPerformance: 7 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Results are more relevant than Google and DuckDuckGo
From 4 comments
This is great! Just for test I searched for "python read command output without check_output" and Runaroo has more relevant search than Google. Runaroo:…
rohan1024 on HNI do not know how you're doing it, but I just ran quite a few searches for obscure film photography and chemistry topics and the results were much better than DDG and less…
old-gregg on HNI've been collecting upstart search engines since DDG started ignoring search syntax instructions. It passes my first test:…
nabilhat on HNI tried searching for cmov gcc (url: https://www.runnaroo.com/search?term=cmov+gcc). Very impressive! Actually gives me stuff that's, I dunno, relevant. Actually included both…
throwaway_pdp09 on HN
Privacy respecting, does not save queries
From 2 comments
All good questions. Trust will only come with time and a track record of making user centric decisions. Runnaroo currently does not save any information on user search queries,…
chris_f on HNRunnaroo has become my default search engine since a couple of months. 1. Search results are more relevant. In comparison to google. I noticed a reduction in spammy results like…
javitury on HN
Handles non-English queries well
From 2 comments
Was very skeptical - every time I try some new search engine it just gives really bad results. Tried some quite esoteric things and was very surprised - also for non-English…
yoavm on HNRunnaroo has become my default search engine since a couple of months. 1. Search results are more relevant. In comparison to google. I noticed a reduction in spammy results like…
javitury on HN
Objections
Relies on Google results, so business is fragile
From 3 comments
I mean, this just uses the Google API. So, nothing new here. Your entire business relies on them.
matchbok on HNDoes this use one of the bigger search engines (Bing, Google) as an API, or is it fully custom rolled?
darsoli on HNFor the organic web results, it is using Google right now, Any Deep Search results provide the specific data source at the top of the result box.
chris_f on HN
Direct redirects to sites like Twitter are unwanted
From 2 comments
It's a bit weird that searching for "twitter" redirects me straight to https://twitter.com/ - I understand the intent there but I'd rather get search results - I know how to…
simonw on HNTried a few queries, and the direct redirect when I type in facebook is more than questionable. If Google did this I couldn't properly research news or facts about facebook. It…
dna_polymerase on HN
Site was down under HN traffic
From 2 comments
Search seems to be down due to the HN hug of death (as stated on the landing page). Looking forward to giving this a bash whenever it comes back up again.
benbristow on HNHowto "Show HN": post a project, ignore all best (technical) practices discussed on HN, update your site to "Unfortunately, we are temporarily taking the site down..."
jmakov on HN
Requests
Dark mode
From 3 comments
A couple of bits of feedback: 1. The searches I tried did return decent / good results, so well done! 2. The image search results page is not very useful / usable - there's no…
drcongo on HNI love it. Please consider dark mode :)
nickx720 on HNResults are really good upon first glance. Dark mode please! Just a quick UI tip: theres a reason that neither DDG, Google, or even HN don't have cards or separators for each…
kart23 on HN
Open source the code
From 2 comments
Is Runnaroo open source? I cannot find the source code?
colesantiago on HNLooks good and I'm going to try it as my default search engine for a bit. There are a handful of small UI issues that make me wish it were open source so I could fix them.
ianwalter on HN
Exact phrase search
From 1 comment
All I want from a search engine to the ability to search for an exact phrase once in awhile...
exabrial on HN
Better image search filtering and navigation
From 3 comments
A couple of bits of feedback: 1. The searches I tried did return decent / good results, so well done! 2. The image search results page is not very useful / usable - there's no…
drcongo on HNNice work! One bug/feature I noticed: Once focused on the image tab, if I revise my search, the image tab loses focus and the primary search results tab gains focus. It wasn’t…
simpsond on HNi like the way it orders the search results and not listing meaningless more pages of results. One thing i found while searching images is that, i cant start a new image search ,…
totaldude87 on HN
Questions
What is the business model
From 3 comments
A couple of bits of feedback: 1. The searches I tried did return decent / good results, so well done! 2. The image search results page is not very useful / usable - there's no…
drcongo on HNwhat's the business model supporting this?
muhammadusman on HNhohoho, wow. Tried quite a few searches and the results are very relevant. This is great. If this is just piggybacking on Google API, can the business survive? Another question…
didip on HN
Where does Google index access come from
From 1 comment
Would love to know how they have access to Google index? Which is listed as a source.
DonnyV on HN
What is the technology stack
From 1 comment
What is your technology stack and how do you plan to scale it in the future?
lord-squirrel on HN
Alternatives named
Google
From 2 comments
This is great! Just for test I searched for "python read command output without check_output" and Runaroo has more relevant search than Google. Runaroo:…
rohan1024 on HNWould love to know how they have access to Google index? Which is listed as a source.
DonnyV on HN
DuckDuckGo
From 2 comments
Also, just as a point of reference, here are the same queries on DuckDuckGo. react.js: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=react.js&ia=web creatine effects research:…
chris_f on HNI wanted so hard to love DDG, but it failed so hard esp for developer questions (90% of my searches).... but DAMN this is what I wanted in a replacement. I've already replaced…
gremlinsinc on HN
Searx
From 1 comment
All good questions. Trust will only come with time and a track record of making user centric decisions. Runnaroo currently does not save any information on user search queries,…
chris_f on HN
Dogpile
From 1 comment
this reminds me of dogpile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogpile is everything old new again? have we hit some sort of cyclic point in internet search quality where we need this…
jtolds on HN