docs+skill: add searxng-search optional skill and documentation

Closes the remaining gaps from PR #11562 that weren't covered by the
core SearXNG integration landed in #20823.

- optional-skills/research/searxng-search/ — installable skill with
  SKILL.md (curl-based usage, category support, Python example) and
  searxng.sh helper script for health checks and instance queries
- website/docs/user-guide/configuration.md — SearXNG added to the
  Web Search Backends section (5 backends, backend table, per-capability
  split config example, correct search-only note)
- website/docs/reference/environment-variables.md — SEARXNG_URL row
- website/docs/reference/optional-skills-catalog.md — searxng-search entry

The core SearXNG code, OPTIONAL_ENV_VARS, hermes tools picker, and tests
were already on main via #20823.  This commit is purely additive docs +
the optional skill scaffold.

Credits from #11562 salvage:
  @w4rum — original _searxng_search structure
  @nathansdev — tools_config.py integration
  @moyomartin — category support and result formatting
  @0xMihai — config/env var approach
  @nicobailon — skill and documentation structure
  @searxng-fan — error handling patterns
  @local-first — self-hosted-first philosophy and docs
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kshitij 2026-05-06 10:15:56 -07:00 committed by GitHub
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5 changed files with 246 additions and 4 deletions

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@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ For native Anthropic auth, Hermes prefers Claude Code's own credential files whe
| `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` | Web scraping and cloud browser ([firecrawl.dev](https://firecrawl.dev/)) |
| `FIRECRAWL_API_URL` | Custom Firecrawl API endpoint for self-hosted instances (optional) |
| `TAVILY_API_KEY` | Tavily API key for AI-native web search, extract, and crawl ([app.tavily.com](https://app.tavily.com/home)) |
| `SEARXNG_URL` | SearXNG instance URL for free self-hosted web search — no API key required ([searxng.github.io](https://searxng.github.io/searxng/)) |
| `TAVILY_BASE_URL` | Override the Tavily API endpoint. Useful for corporate proxies and self-hosted Tavily-compatible search backends. Same pattern as `GROQ_BASE_URL`. |
| `EXA_API_KEY` | Exa API key for AI-native web search and contents ([exa.ai](https://exa.ai/)) |
| `BROWSERBASE_API_KEY` | Browser automation ([browserbase.com](https://browserbase.com/)) |

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@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ hermes skills uninstall <skill-name>
| [**domain-intel**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-domain-intel) | Passive domain reconnaissance using Python stdlib. Subdomain discovery, SSL certificate inspection, WHOIS lookups, DNS records, domain availability checks, and bulk multi-domain analysis. No API keys required. |
| [**drug-discovery**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-drug-discovery) | Pharmaceutical research assistant for drug discovery workflows. Search bioactive compounds on ChEMBL, calculate drug-likeness (Lipinski Ro5, QED, TPSA, synthetic accessibility), look up drug-drug interactions via OpenFDA, interpret ADMET... |
| [**duckduckgo-search**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-duckduckgo-search) | Free web search via DuckDuckGo — text, news, images, videos. No API key needed. Prefer the `ddgs` CLI when installed; use the Python DDGS library only after verifying that `ddgs` is available in the current runtime. |
| [**searxng-search**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-searxng-search) | Free meta-search via SearXNG — aggregates results from 70+ search engines. Self-hosted or use a public instance. No API key needed. Falls back automatically when the web search toolset is unavailable. |
| [**gitnexus-explorer**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-gitnexus-explorer) | Index a codebase with GitNexus and serve an interactive knowledge graph via web UI + Cloudflare tunnel. |
| [**parallel-cli**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-parallel-cli) | Optional vendor skill for Parallel CLI — agent-native web search, extraction, deep research, enrichment, FindAll, and monitoring. Prefer JSON output and non-interactive flows. |
| [**qmd**](/docs/user-guide/skills/optional/research/research-qmd) | Search personal knowledge bases, notes, docs, and meeting transcripts locally using qmd — a hybrid retrieval engine with BM25, vector search, and LLM reranking. Supports CLI and MCP integration. |

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@ -1425,23 +1425,30 @@ Environment scrubbing (strips `*_API_KEY`, `*_TOKEN`, `*_SECRET`, `*_PASSWORD`,
## Web Search Backends
The `web_search`, `web_extract`, and `web_crawl` tools support four backend providers. Configure the backend in `config.yaml` or via `hermes tools`:
The `web_search`, `web_extract`, and `web_crawl` tools support five backend providers. Configure the backend in `config.yaml` or via `hermes tools`:
```yaml
web:
backend: firecrawl # firecrawl | parallel | tavily | exa
backend: firecrawl # firecrawl | searxng | parallel | tavily | exa
# Or use per-capability keys to mix providers (e.g. free search + paid extract):
search_backend: "searxng"
extract_backend: "firecrawl"
```
| Backend | Env Var | Search | Extract | Crawl |
|---------|---------|--------|---------|-------|
| **Firecrawl** (default) | `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| **SearXNG** | `SEARXNG_URL` | ✔ | — | — |
| **Parallel** | `PARALLEL_API_KEY` | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| **Tavily** | `TAVILY_API_KEY` | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| **Exa** | `EXA_API_KEY` | ✔ | ✔ | — |
**Backend selection:** If `web.backend` is not set, the backend is auto-detected from available API keys. If only `EXA_API_KEY` is set, Exa is used. If only `TAVILY_API_KEY` is set, Tavily is used. If only `PARALLEL_API_KEY` is set, Parallel is used. Otherwise Firecrawl is the default.
**Backend selection:** If `web.backend` is not set, the backend is auto-detected from available API keys. If only `SEARXNG_URL` is set, SearXNG is used. If only `EXA_API_KEY` is set, Exa is used. If only `TAVILY_API_KEY` is set, Tavily is used. If only `PARALLEL_API_KEY` is set, Parallel is used. Otherwise Firecrawl is the default.
**Self-hosted Firecrawl:** Set `FIRECRAWL_API_URL` to point at your own instance. When a custom URL is set, the API key becomes optional (set `USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION=false` on the server to disable auth).
**SearXNG** is a free, self-hosted, privacy-respecting metasearch engine that queries 70+ search engines. No API key needed — just set `SEARXNG_URL` to your instance (e.g., `http://localhost:8080`). SearXNG is search-only; `web_extract` and `web_crawl` require a separate extract provider (set `web.extract_backend`).
**Self-hosted Firecrawl:** Set `FIRECRAWL_API_URL` to point at your own instance. When a custom URL is set, the API key becomes optional (set `USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION=*** on the server to disable auth).
**Parallel search modes:** Set `PARALLEL_SEARCH_MODE` to control search behavior — `fast`, `one-shot`, or `agentic` (default: `agentic`).