diff --git a/searx/search.py b/searx/search.py
index b5777c7ed6ccc9cf187cb91c4e718b00c2a14760..195d836c770f69c7bfe09eb6fde713aa72a427a3 100644
--- a/searx/search.py
+++ b/searx/search.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import requests.exceptions
 from flask_babel import gettext
 
 import searx.poolrequests as requests_lib
+from searx import search_database
 from searx import logger
 from searx.answerers import ask
 from searx.engines import (
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ from searx.plugins import plugins
 from searx.query import RawTextQuery, SearchQuery, VALID_LANGUAGE_CODE
 from searx.results import ResultContainer
 from searx.utils import gen_useragent
+from searx.plugins import plugins
 
 from _thread import start_new_thread
 
@@ -266,6 +268,28 @@ def get_search_query_from_webapp(preferences, form):
                        query_time_range)
 
 
+def search(request, host):
+    """ Entry point to perform search request on engines
+    """
+    search_query = get_search_query_from_webapp(request.preferences, request.form)
+    searchData = search_database.read(search_query, host)
+    if searchData is None:
+        result_container = Search(search_query).search()
+        searchData = search_database.get_search_data(search_query, result_container)
+        threading.Thread(
+            target=search_database.save,
+            args=(searchData, host),
+            name='save_search_' + str(searchData)
+        ).start()
+
+    ordered_plugin = request.user_plugins
+    plugins.call(ordered_plugin, 'post_search', request, searchData)
+
+    for result in searchData.results:
+        plugins.call(ordered_plugin, 'on_result', request, searchData, result)
+    return searchData
+
+
 class Search(object):
     """Search information container"""
 
diff --git a/searx/search_database.py b/searx/search_database.py
index c9f74e6bfea15850106f1b0cc465808cd5be163e..2ba7ab0c2b7382c8554ae838b55aad0d5701103c 100644
--- a/searx/search_database.py
+++ b/searx/search_database.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import redis
 from searx import settings
 from searx.plugins import plugins
 from searx.query import SearchQuery
-from searx.search import Search, get_search_query_from_webapp
 from searx.url_utils import urlparse
 
 
@@ -131,22 +130,6 @@ def get_search_data(q, r):
                       r.infoboxes, r.suggestions, r.unresponsive_engines)
 
 
-def search(request, host):
-    search_query = get_search_query_from_webapp(request.preferences, request.form)
-    searchData = read(search_query, host)
-    if searchData is None:
-        result_container = Search(search_query).search()
-        searchData = get_search_data(search_query, result_container)
-        threading.Thread(target=save, args=(searchData, host), name='save_search_' + str(searchData)).start()
-
-    ordered_plugin = request.user_plugins
-    plugins.call(ordered_plugin, 'post_search', request, searchData)
-
-    for result in searchData.results:
-        plugins.call(ordered_plugin, 'on_result', request, searchData, result)
-    return searchData
-
-
 def update(d, host):
     conn = redis.StrictRedis(host)
     key = "SEARCH_HISTORY:{}:{}:{}:{}:{}:{}:{}".format(
diff --git a/searx/webapp.py b/searx/webapp.py
index 58de17912862a8538ae2fcd1fa83cb661c3aebd1..9a6dfd99a365f8cc3a5a16f8c5efffd9cd51cea1 100644
--- a/searx/webapp.py
+++ b/searx/webapp.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ from searx.utils import (
 )
 from searx.version import VERSION_STRING
 from searx.languages import language_codes as languages
-from searx.search import Search
+from searx.search import Search, search
 from searx.query import RawTextQuery
 from searx.autocomplete import searx_bang, backends as autocomplete_backends
 from searx.plugins import plugins
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ from searx.preferences import Preferences, ValidationException, LANGUAGE_CODES
 from searx.answerers import answerers
 from searx.url_utils import urlencode, urlparse, urljoin
 from searx.utils import new_hmac
-from searx.search_database import get_twenty_queries, search
+from searx.search_database import get_twenty_queries
 import threading
 
 # check if the pyopenssl package is installed.