From faa13e49f81480771ceeb55991bb0c27edf1a5fb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: helix4u <4317663+helix4u@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 7 May 2026 18:08:08 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] docs(web): fix SearXNG env configuration

---
 tools/web_providers/searxng.py                 |  5 +++--
 website/docs/user-guide/features/web-search.md | 15 +++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/web_providers/searxng.py b/tools/web_providers/searxng.py
index 59ddcb8d51..589b0a2b33 100644
--- a/tools/web_providers/searxng.py
+++ b/tools/web_providers/searxng.py
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@ It implements ``WebSearchProvider`` only — there is no extract capability.
 
 Configuration::
 
-    # ~/.hermes/config.yaml  (SEARXNG_URL is a URL, not a secret — use config.yaml not .env)
-    SEARXNG_URL: http://localhost:8080
+    # ~/.hermes/.env
+    SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8080
 
     # Use SearXNG for search, pair with any extract provider:
+    # ~/.hermes/config.yaml
     web:
       search_backend: "searxng"
       extract_backend: "firecrawl"
diff --git a/website/docs/user-guide/features/web-search.md b/website/docs/user-guide/features/web-search.md
index eb43c582a0..4597b47b72 100644
--- a/website/docs/user-guide/features/web-search.md
+++ b/website/docs/user-guide/features/web-search.md
@@ -148,8 +148,15 @@ You should see something like `10 results`. If you get a `403 Forbidden`, JSON f
 **7. Configure Hermes:**
 
 ```bash
-# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
-SEARXNG_URL: http://localhost:8888
+# ~/.hermes/.env
+SEARXNG_URL=http://localhost:8888
+```
+
+Then select SearXNG as the search backend in `~/.hermes/config.yaml`:
+
+```yaml
+web:
+  search_backend: "searxng"
 ```
 
 Or set via `hermes tools` → Web Search & Extract → SearXNG.
@@ -161,8 +168,8 @@ Or set via `hermes tools` → Web Search & Extract → SearXNG.
 Public SearXNG instances are listed at [searx.space](https://searx.space/). Filter by instances that have **JSON format enabled** (shown in the table).
 
 ```bash
-# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
-SEARXNG_URL: https://searx.example.com
+# ~/.hermes/.env
+SEARXNG_URL=https://searx.example.com
 ```
 
 :::caution Public instances