diff --git a/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js b/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js
index c9bdd0fbb..1c5398c27 100644
--- a/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js
+++ b/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import yaml from "js-yaml";
 
 import checkAndCopyConfig from "utils/config/config";
 
+const exemptWidgets = ["search"];
+
 export async function widgetsFromConfig() {
     checkAndCopyConfig("widgets.yaml");
 
@@ -29,11 +31,16 @@ export async function cleanWidgetGroups(widgets) {
     return widgets.map((widget, index) => {
         const sanitizedOptions = widget.options;
         const optionKeys = Object.keys(sanitizedOptions);
-        ["url", "username", "password", "key"].forEach((pO) => { 
-            if (optionKeys.includes(pO)) {
-                delete sanitizedOptions[pO];
-            }
-        });
+        if (!exemptWidgets.includes(widget.type)) {
+            ["url", "username", "password", "key"].forEach((pO) => { 
+                if (optionKeys.includes(pO)) {
+                    // allow URL in search
+                    if (widget.type !== "search" && pO !== "key") {
+                        delete sanitizedOptions[pO];
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+        }
 
         return {
             type: widget.type,