feat(xai): add x_search tool — search X via xAI Responses API by Julientalbot · Pull Request #14541 · NousResearch/hermes-agent

Julientalbot · 2026-04-23T12:28:32Z

What does this PR do?

Add a new x_search tool that searches X (Twitter) posts, profiles, and threads using xAI's native x_search Responses API tool. xAI is the only provider with native access to X/Twitter data.

Changes

tools/x_search_tool.py (~350 LOC): Self-contained tool implementation
- Uses xAI Responses API (POST /v1/responses) with x_search built-in tool
- Supports query, allowed/excluded handles (max 10 each), date filters
- Image and video understanding options for analyzing X media
- Retry logic with configurable retries (default: 2, non-retryable on 4xx)
- Config via config.yaml under x_search: section (model, timeout, retries)
- Citation extraction from response annotations
- Shared xai_http.py for User-Agent header
tests/tools/test_x_search_tool.py (~300 LOC): 24 unit tests
- Requirements check (with/without API key)
- Handle normalization (@Prefix stripping, dedup, max enforcement)
- Response text extraction (output_text + output items paths)
- Citation extraction (url_citation annotations)
- Main function: missing query, missing key, successful search
- Auth header verification (Bearer token, User-Agent)
- Retry on 5xx, no retry on 4xx auth errors
- Config defaults and overrides
toolsets.py: Add x_search to _HERMES_CORE_TOOLS and TOOLSETS dict
hermes_cli/tools_config.py: Add x_search to CONFIGURABLE_TOOLSETS

How to Test

Requires XAI_API_KEY set in ~/.hermes/.env. Get one at https://console.x.ai/

# Unit tests (24 tests)
python -m pytest tests/tools/test_x_search_tool.py -v

# Live API test
source ~/.hermes/.env
python3 -c "
import sys; sys.path.insert(0, '.')
from tools.x_search_tool import x_search_tool
result = x_search_tool(query='latest news about Hermes Agent')
print(result[:300])
"

Design Decisions

One tool, one file: Follows the same pattern as STT (feat(stt): add xAI Grok STT provider #14473) and TTS (feat(xai): upgrade to Responses API, add TTS provider #10783)
Atomic PR: x_search only — video_gen and image_gen will follow in separate PRs
Config-driven: Model, timeout, retries configurable via config.yaml
Retry with backoff: Retries on 5xx/connection errors, fast-fails on 4xx auth errors

Extracted and standalone-ified from Jaaneek's PR NousResearch#10600 / Teknium's split PR NousResearch#10786. The x_search tool is the smallest, most self-contained piece of that work and doesn't depend on image/video generation changes, so it ships cleanly on its own while NousResearch#10786 rebases. ## What New tool `x_search` backed by xAI's built-in `x_search` Responses API tool. Searches X (Twitter) posts with configurable model, timeout, retry count, handle filtering, and citation extraction. ## Why split PR NousResearch#10786 bundles x_search + video_generation + image_generation xAI backend in ~2k lines across 8 files. Tests on that branch currently regress (mostly unrelated flake from Discord/Telegram suites on CI, plus xai_media asserts drifted vs evolving main). Shipping x_search alone gets 351 LOC of production + 207 LOC of tests into main while the heavier media pieces are rebased. Co-authored credit preserved. ## Scope - tools/x_search_tool.py — tool implementation (351 LOC) - tests/tools/test_x_search_tool.py — unit tests (207 LOC, 6 tests) - toolsets.py — add x_search to _HERMES_CORE_TOOLS + new TOOLSETS entry - hermes_cli/tools_config.py — add x_search to CONFIGURABLE_TOOLSETS Deliberately **not** changing: image_generation_tool.py, video_generation_tool.py, browser_cdp (preserved), xAI TTS wiring (already on main via NousResearch#10783). ## Tests - tests/tools/test_x_search_tool.py — 6 passed - tests/ -k toolset — 126 passed, 4 skipped - tests/ -k tools_config — 91 passed, 4 skipped - Registry smoke: x_search registered, browser_cdp preserved ## Config Reads optional `x_search` section from user config: ```yaml x_search: model: grok-4.20-reasoning # default timeout_seconds: 180 # default retries: 2 # default ``` ## Requirements Gated on `XAI_API_KEY` (already wired by PR NousResearch#10783). Co-authored-by: Jaaneek <Jaaneek@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Teknium <127238744+teknium1@users.noreply.github.com>

Add a short subsection under xAI provider docs explaining how to enable the x_search toolset, its optional config (model/timeout/retries), and what it returns. Co-located with the other xAI wiring docs. Co-authored-by: Jaaneek <Jaaneek@users.noreply.github.com>

…apshot The TestBuiltinDiscovery snapshot test asserts that the tool discovery walks the tools/ directory and produces a set identical to a manually maintained list. Adding the new x_search tool requires updating that list — otherwise the snapshot drifts and CI fails.

Julientalbot · 2026-05-10T16:35:31Z

Rebased onto current main (was 7000+ commits behind from late April) and pushed.

The CI failure on the previous tip was largely unrelated to this PR — 14 of the 15 failing tests were broken on main at the time the branch was originally pushed (Anthropic max_tokens, image fallback, browser-camofox, browser-cdp, write-deny, zombie-process — all in unrelated subsystems and since fixed upstream).

The one real x_search-related failure was a snapshot test in tests/tools/test_registry.py::test_matches_previous_manual_builtin_tool_set that asserts the discovered builtin tools match a manually maintained list. Fixed in a small extra commit that adds tools.x_search_tool to that list.

Local validation:

tests/tools/test_x_search_tool.py: 6/6 passing
tests/tools/test_registry.py: 31/31 passing
All previously-failing files re-run together: 430/430 passing

Stack is now 3 commits — the original feat + docs + the registry snapshot fix.

Julientalbot · 2026-05-10T16:53:41Z

Cross-checked the rebased CI against main to confirm zero regression from this PR:

	`main` (run 25633524724)	this PR (run 25633999913)
failed	9	9
passed	21889	21895 (+6 = the new `test_x_search_tool.py`)
skipped	57	57

The 9 failing tests are strictly identical between main and this PR (comm -13 and comm -23 both empty). Reproduced 5 of them locally on a clean origin/main worktree without this PR applied — same 5 failures.

Failures are:

tests/gateway/test_tts_media_routing.py × 3 (telegram TTS routing)
tests/hermes_cli/test_update_gateway_restart.py × 3 (gateway PID filtering)
tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py::TestPluginAPIAuth::test_plugin_route_allows_auth
tests/run_agent/test_async_httpx_del_neuter.py::TestClientCacheBoundedGrowth::test_same_key_replaces_stale_loop_entry
tests/tools/test_vision_native_fast_path.py::TestHandleVisionAnalyzeFastPath::test_vision_capable_main_model_uses_fast_path

None of those modules are in this PR's diff. The other red checks on this PR (Windows footguns (blocking), e2e) also fail on main for the same reasons. ruff + ty diff is red because the post-comment step lacks write permission on PRs from forks (Resource not accessible by integration); the report itself shows 0 net new violations and includes the line "this check never fails the build".

Happy to rebase again if anything lands on main that fixes these — but this PR is in a state where nothing on it requires a code change from me.

…in tool set snapshot Same snapshot fix as for x_search in PR NousResearch#14541: discovery walks the tools/ directory and the manual list must be kept in sync.

teknium1 · 2026-05-20T10:23:43Z

Thanks Julien! This functionality is already on main — tools/x_search_tool.py exists and registers the x_search tool. Looks like the original PR already landed and this rebase is now redundant. Closing, but your contribution is what shipped — appreciate it.

Julientalbot mentioned this pull request Apr 23, 2026

feat(xai): add video generation tool — generate/edit/extend via xAI grok-imagine-video #14543

Closed

alt-glitch added type/feature New feature or request P3 Low — cosmetic, nice to have comp/tools Tool registry, model_tools, toolsets provider/xai xAI (Grok) labels Apr 23, 2026

boatrace-mania mentioned this pull request May 6, 2026

[Bug]: xAI Responses transport: no code path registers server-side web_search/x_search tools #20590

Closed

1 task

julientalbot-ergonomia and others added 3 commits May 10, 2026 20:32

Julientalbot force-pushed the feat/xai-x-search branch from ec4b892 to 585b952 Compare May 10, 2026 16:35

fix(xai): align toolset defaults and model fallback

03215a0

alt-glitch mentioned this pull request May 16, 2026

feat(x_search): gated X (Twitter) search tool with OAuth-or-API-key auth #26763

Merged

teknium1 closed this May 20, 2026

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Julientalbot commented Apr 23, 2026

What does this PR do?

Changes

How to Test

Design Decisions

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Julientalbot commented May 10, 2026

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