diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 5ab2b94..aafce60 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -268,6 +268,18 @@
   - backend debug broadcasts
 
 ## Recent Change Log
+- Date: `2026-03-24`
+- What changed:
+  - Restored the video-search request path to tolerate a scheme-less `SEARXNG_BASE_URL` such as `192.168.1.66:8087` by normalizing it to `http://...` during search-service initialization.
+  - Added regression coverage so the video search service keeps accepting the older style base URL configuration used in live deployment.
+- Why it changed:
+  - Real user logs showed video search failing immediately with `first path segment in URL cannot contain colon`, which traced back to a scheme-less SearXNG base URL in the deployed environment.
+- How it was verified:
+  - log review of `ai-media-hub-2026-03-24T08-09-23-204Z.log`
+  - added unit coverage for scheme-less base URL normalization
+- What is still risky or incomplete:
+  - Go tests could not be rerun in this environment because `go` is currently unavailable here, so this fix is verified by code-path review plus the added test only.
+
 - Date: `2026-03-24`
 - What changed:
   - Corrected the Unraid template GIPHY download path mapping from `/downloads/giphy` to `/app/downloads/giphy` so it matches the backend default download directory layout.
diff --git a/backend/services/cse.go b/backend/services/cse.go
index 32608c5..00b846e 100644
--- a/backend/services/cse.go
+++ b/backend/services/cse.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func NewSearchService(baseURL, googleVideoEngine, webEngine string) *SearchServi
 		webEngine = "google"
 	}
 	return &SearchService{
-		BaseURL:           strings.TrimRight(baseURL, "/"),
+		BaseURL:           normalizeBaseURL(baseURL),
 		GoogleVideoEngine: googleVideoEngine,
 		WebEngine:         webEngine,
 		Client:            &http.Client{Timeout: 20 * time.Second},
@@ -77,6 +77,17 @@ func NewSearchService(baseURL, googleVideoEngine, webEngine string) *SearchServi
 	}
 }
 
+func normalizeBaseURL(raw string) string {
+	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+	if trimmed == "" {
+		return ""
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(trimmed, "://") {
+		trimmed = "http://" + trimmed
+	}
+	return strings.TrimRight(trimmed, "/")
+}
+
 func (s *SearchService) SearchMedia(queries []string, enabledPlatforms map[string]bool) ([]SearchResult, SearchExecutionMeta, error) {
 	return s.SearchMediaWithDeadline(queries, enabledPlatforms, time.Time{})
 }
diff --git a/backend/services/cse_test.go b/backend/services/cse_test.go
index ad6f3d3..286dc64 100644
--- a/backend/services/cse_test.go
+++ b/backend/services/cse_test.go
@@ -182,6 +182,13 @@ func TestSearchServiceFetchCacheRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestNewSearchServiceNormalizesSchemeLessBaseURL(t *testing.T) {
+	service := NewSearchService("192.168.1.66:8087", "", "")
+	if service.BaseURL != "http://192.168.1.66:8087" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected normalized base url, got %q", service.BaseURL)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSplitSearchDeadlinesReservesEnrichmentWindow(t *testing.T) {
 	deadline := time.Now().Add(20 * time.Second)
 	collectionDeadline, enrichmentDeadline := splitSearchDeadlines(deadline)