diff --git a/docs/dev/engine_overview.rst b/docs/dev/engine_overview.rst
index 42c205d9d..2a661ec40 100644
--- a/docs/dev/engine_overview.rst
+++ b/docs/dev/engine_overview.rst
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ argument                type        information
 categories              list        pages, in which the engine is working
 paging                  boolean     support multible pages
 time_range_support      boolean     support search time range
-engine_type             str         ``online`` by default, other possibles values are 
+engine_type             str         ``online`` by default, other possibles values are
                                     ``offline``, ``online_dictionnary``, ``online_currency``
 ======================= =========== ========================================================
 
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ example code
    paging = True
 
 
+.. _engine request:
+
 making a request
 ================
 
@@ -198,6 +200,8 @@ example code
        return params
 
 
+.. _engine results:
+
 returned results
 ================
 
diff --git a/docs/dev/index.rst b/docs/dev/index.rst
index ba0a25a9c..82e5d3e84 100644
--- a/docs/dev/index.rst
+++ b/docs/dev/index.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Developer documentation
    quickstart
    contribution_guide
    engine_overview
+   xpath_engine
    search_api
    plugins
    translation
diff --git a/docs/dev/xpath_engine.rst b/docs/dev/xpath_engine.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c73763d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/dev/xpath_engine.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+.. _xpath_engine:
+
+================
+The XPath engine
+================
+
+.. automodule:: searx.engines.xpath
+  :members:
+
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 862106ebe..40105129f 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ Welcome to searxng
 
     *Search without being tracked.*
 
-.. warning::
+.. hint::
+
    This is not searx, but searxng.
 
 Searxng is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from more
diff --git a/searx/engines/xpath.py b/searx/engines/xpath.py
index b215c2ba1..920adf4c6 100644
--- a/searx/engines/xpath.py
+++ b/searx/engines/xpath.py
@@ -1,51 +1,106 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+# lint: pylint
+# pylint: disable=missing-function-docstring
+"""The XPath engine is a *generic* engine with which it is possible to configure
+engines in the settings.
+
+Here is a simple example of a XPath engine configured in the
+:ref:`settings engine` section, further read :ref:`engines-dev`.
+
+.. code:: yaml
+
+  - name : bitbucket
+    engine : xpath
+    paging : True
+    search_url : https://bitbucket.org/repo/all/{pageno}?name={query}
+    url_xpath : //article[@class="repo-summary"]//a[@class="repo-link"]/@href
+    title_xpath : //article[@class="repo-summary"]//a[@class="repo-link"]
+    content_xpath : //article[@class="repo-summary"]/p
+
+"""
+
+from urllib.parse import urlencode
 
 from lxml import html
-from urllib.parse import urlencode
 from searx.utils import extract_text, extract_url, eval_xpath, eval_xpath_list
+from searx import logger
+
+logger = logger.getChild('XPath engine')
 
 search_url = None
-url_xpath = None
-content_xpath = None
-title_xpath = None
-thumbnail_xpath = False
-paging = False
-suggestion_xpath = ''
+"""
+Search URL of the engine, replacements are:
+
+``{query}``:
+  Search terms from user.
+
+``{pageno}``:
+  Page number if engine supports pagging :py:obj:`paging`
+
+"""
+
+soft_max_redirects = 0
+'''Maximum redirects, soft limit. Record an error but don't stop the engine'''
+
 results_xpath = ''
+'''XPath selector for the list of result items'''
+
+url_xpath = None
+'''XPath selector of result's ``url``.'''
+
+content_xpath = None
+'''XPath selector of result's ``content``.'''
+
+title_xpath = None
+'''XPath selector of result's ``title``.'''
+
+thumbnail_xpath = False
+'''XPath selector of result's ``img_src``.'''
+
+suggestion_xpath = ''
+'''XPath selector of result's ``suggestion``.'''
+
 cached_xpath = ''
 cached_url = ''
-soft_max_redirects = 0
 
-# parameters for engines with paging support
-#
-# number of results on each page
-# (only needed if the site requires not a page number, but an offset)
+paging = False
+'''Engine supports paging [True or False].'''
+
 page_size = 1
-# number of the first page (usually 0 or 1)
-first_page_num = 1
+'''Number of results on each page.  Only needed if the site requires not a page
+number, but an offset.'''
 
+first_page_num = 1
+'''Number of the first page (usually 0 or 1).'''
 
 def request(query, params):
+    '''Build request parameters (see :ref:`engine request`).
+
+    '''
     query = urlencode({'q': query})[2:]
 
-    fp = {'query': query}
+    fargs = {'query': query}
     if paging and search_url.find('{pageno}') >= 0:
-        fp['pageno'] = (params['pageno'] - 1) * page_size + first_page_num
+        fargs['pageno'] = (params['pageno'] - 1) * page_size + first_page_num
 
-    params['url'] = search_url.format(**fp)
+    params['url'] = search_url.format(**fargs)
     params['query'] = query
     params['soft_max_redirects'] = soft_max_redirects
+    logger.debug("query_url --> %s", params['url'])
 
     return params
 
-
 def response(resp):
+    '''Scrap *results* from the response (see :ref:`engine results`).
+
+    '''
     results = []
     dom = html.fromstring(resp.text)
-    is_onion = True if 'onions' in categories else False  # pylint: disable=undefined-variable
+    is_onion = 'onions' in categories  # pylint: disable=undefined-variable
 
     if results_xpath:
         for result in eval_xpath_list(dom, results_xpath):
+
             url = extract_url(eval_xpath_list(result, url_xpath, min_len=1), search_url)
             title = extract_text(eval_xpath_list(result, title_xpath, min_len=1))
             content = extract_text(eval_xpath_list(result, content_xpath, min_len=1))
@@ -59,13 +114,16 @@ def response(resp):
 
             # add alternative cached url if available
             if cached_xpath:
-                tmp_result['cached_url'] = cached_url\
+                tmp_result['cached_url'] = (
+                    cached_url
                     + extract_text(eval_xpath_list(result, cached_xpath, min_len=1))
+                )
 
             if is_onion:
                 tmp_result['is_onion'] = True
 
             results.append(tmp_result)
+
     else:
         if cached_xpath:
             for url, title, content, cached in zip(
@@ -75,8 +133,12 @@ def response(resp):
                 map(extract_text, eval_xpath_list(dom, content_xpath)),
                 map(extract_text, eval_xpath_list(dom, cached_xpath))
             ):
-                results.append({'url': url, 'title': title, 'content': content,
-                                'cached_url': cached_url + cached, 'is_onion': is_onion})
+                results.append({
+                    'url': url,
+                    'title': title,
+                    'content': content,
+                    'cached_url': cached_url + cached, 'is_onion': is_onion
+                })
         else:
             for url, title, content in zip(
                 (extract_url(x, search_url) for
@@ -84,10 +146,16 @@ def response(resp):
                 map(extract_text, eval_xpath_list(dom, title_xpath)),
                 map(extract_text, eval_xpath_list(dom, content_xpath))
             ):
-                results.append({'url': url, 'title': title, 'content': content, 'is_onion': is_onion})
+                results.append({
+                    'url': url,
+                    'title': title,
+                    'content': content,
+                    'is_onion': is_onion
+                })
 
-    if not suggestion_xpath:
-        return results
-    for suggestion in eval_xpath(dom, suggestion_xpath):
-        results.append({'suggestion': extract_text(suggestion)})
+    if suggestion_xpath:
+        for suggestion in eval_xpath(dom, suggestion_xpath):
+            results.append({'suggestion': extract_text(suggestion)})
+
+    logger.debug("found %s results", len(results))
     return results