To give Hermes Agent current web information, configure a search provider for its web_search tool. If Hermes also needs to read the pages it finds, configure a provider for web_extract as well. You can select a provider with hermes tools or set it in ~/.hermes/config.yaml; search and extraction can use different backends.
How Hermes web search works
Hermes Agent documentation describes two model-callable web tools backed by multiple providers: web_search finds and ranks pages, while web_extract fetches readable content from URLs. Search results are not the same as the full text of a page, so a workflow that needs both discovery and page contents may require two capabilities.
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Provider selection is capability-aware. Hermes checks whether a provider is available and supports the requested operation; if no eligible provider is registered, the call returns an error. See the Hermes tools guide and developer guide for the current provider and configuration details.
Choose and configure a provider
Use the provider selection interface
Run hermes tools to select a backend interactively. A fresh install can use a rotating keyless provider ring, according to the Hermes guide. Named options documented by Hermes include Firecrawl, SearXNG, Brave Search, DDGS, Exa, Parallel, Tavily, Perplexity, Keenable, xAI, and OpenAI Native (Codex). Availability, credentials, and supported capabilities differ by provider.
Set the shared backend in configuration
You can instead set web.backend in ~/.hermes/config.yaml. The shared setting is used when no capability-specific backend is selected. If no provider selection is set, Hermes applies auto-detection.
Give search and extraction separate backends
When the search provider cannot retrieve page text, assign an extraction-capable backend separately. For example, the Hermes developer guide shows Brave Search for search and Firecrawl for extraction:
web:
search_backend: "brave-free"
extract_backend: "firecrawl"Capability-specific settings take precedence over the shared web.backend setting. This arrangement lets Hermes find pages with one service and retrieve their readable contents with another.
The Tool Desk
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| Tool | What it does | Documented defaults and limits |
|---|---|---|
web_search |
Searches the web and returns ranked results. | Up to five results by default; the limit parameter can change the result count. Source: Hermes tools reference. |
web_extract |
Fetches readable text from page URLs without LLM summarization; PDFs are supported. | Default text budget of 15,000 characters and up to five URLs per call. Source: Hermes tools reference. |
These are documented tool defaults and limits, not a guarantee that every provider returns identical content or supports every request. Check the selected provider’s capability and availability if a call fails.
Compare provider trade-offs before relying on one
Choose based on whether you need search, extraction, or both; what credentials or keyless access are available; any applicable rate limits; and how the provider produces its results. Hermes lists Brave Search as search-only and gives a free-tier figure of 2,000 queries per month; it lists Exa as supporting search and extraction with a free-tier figure of 1,000 searches per month. These figures appear in undated Hermes documentation and should be treated as time-sensitive statements, not guaranteed current provider terms. Check the current Hermes provider guide and the provider’s own terms before planning regular usage.
Keyless access may be convenient, but Hermes notes that it can be rate-limited. A rotating keyless option on a fresh installation, or optional keyless access for certain backends, does not mean access is unlimited or guaranteed. Configured backends or present API keys take precedence, as described in the Hermes guide.
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OpenAI Native (Codex)
Hermes documents this backend for the Codex Responses endpoint. It requires an OpenAI Codex OAuth login and supports search, not extraction. The guide recommends an ordinary provider backend for other transports. See the Hermes provider documentation.
xAI
The xAI backend invokes Grok’s server-side search tool. Hermes warns that xAI results are LLM-generated rather than index-backed, so verify generated titles, descriptions, and URLs before treating them as reliable citations. See the Hermes provider documentation.
OpenRouter server-side search
OpenRouter offers a separate integration path: its openrouter:web_search server tool can provide real-time web access to routed models. OpenRouter labels the feature beta and says its API and behavior may change. This is distinct from configuring Hermes’ own web providers; see the OpenRouter web search documentation.
Quick Recap
Check your setup when a search fails
- Confirm the selected provider is available and has the capability the tool call needs; search-only support will not provide page extraction.
- Check whether the provider requires credentials, whether the configured key or backend is being used, and whether keyless access has encountered a rate limit.
- If search works but page contents are missing, configure an extraction-capable backend through
web.extract_backend. - For generated results, especially from xAI’s server-side search, open and verify the returned URLs rather than assuming their titles and descriptions are index-backed.
- Consult the Hermes guide for the installed version because provider lists, settings, quotas, and access terms can change.
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