feat(web): add xAI Web Search provider plugin#29042
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Adds a new bundled web search provider plugin backed by xAI's agentic Web Search tool (server-side `web_search` on the Responses API). Slots in alongside the existing Firecrawl / Tavily / Exa / Brave / SearXNG / DDGS providers; opt in via `web.backend: xai` (or auto-selected by the registry's single-provider shortcut when it's the only available web provider, matching every other backend's behavior). Reuses the existing xAI HTTP credential plumbing (`tools/xai_http.py`) so it works with both `hermes auth login xai-oauth` (SuperGrok OAuth) and `XAI_API_KEY` — no new credential paths, no new env vars, no new setup-wizard prompts. The existing `xai_grok` post_setup hook handles credential collection. Reference: https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/web-search Provider behavior ----------------- - Sends a structured prompt to Grok with `tools=[{"type": "web_search"}]` enabled and `include=["no_inline_citations"]`, then parses results from a `{"results": [...]}` JSON block (primary), falling back to `url_citation` annotations (secondary) and the top-level `citations` list (last-ditch). Annotation fallback falls through to citations when no rows are extractable, so future annotation types xAI may add don't silently mask real data. - HTTP 200 + `{"error": {...}}` envelopes (model-overload, refusal) are surfaced as failures rather than masked as success-with-empty- results. - HTTP 401 on the OAuth path triggers a single `force_refresh=True` retry — closes two gaps the resolver's proactive JWT-exp shortcut doesn't cover: opaque (non-JWT) access tokens and mid-window revocation. Env-var (`XAI_API_KEY`) credentials never retry; they can't be refreshed and an immediate retry would just burn quota. - `is_available()` is a cheap probe (env var OR auth.json read), never invokes the OAuth resolver — required by the ABC contract because it runs on every `hermes tools` repaint and at tool-registration time. - Class docstring documents the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model so callers piping untrusted input into `web_search` know returned URLs are model-generated and should be validated before fetching. Config (`config.yaml`): web: backend: xai xai: model: grok-4.3 # optional, defaults to grok-4.3 allowed_domains: # optional, max 5 — mutex with excluded_domains - arxiv.org excluded_domains: # optional, max 5 - example-spam.com timeout: 90 # optional, seconds Files ----- - plugins/web/xai/plugin.yaml (new) plugin manifest - plugins/web/xai/__init__.py (new) register(ctx) hook - plugins/web/xai/provider.py (new) XAIWebSearchProvider impl - tools/xai_http.py (+47) has_xai_credentials() cheap-probe helper + keyword-only force_refresh arg on resolve_xai_http_ credentials() (backwards compatible; all 9 other call sites unaffected) - tools/web_tools.py (+11) "xai" added to configured- backend set + branch in _is_backend_available() - tests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py (new, 39 tests) covers identity, cheap-probe semantics, JSON / annotation / citations parse paths, request payload shape, error envelopes, OAuth force-refresh-on-401 retry, env-var-no-retry guard, 500-not- retried guard, refresh-returns- same-token guard, OAuth runtime resolution, and backend wiring. Tests ----- - 39 xai-suite passes - 79 sibling web-provider tests (brave-free, ddgs, searxng, base) pass - 119 cross-suite tests for other xai_http callers (transcription, x_search, tts) pass — verifies the new keyword-only arg is BC - scripts/check-windows-footguns.py: clean on all 5 modified files No edits to run_agent.py, cli.py, gateway/, toolsets, config schema, plugin core, or auth core.
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🔎 Lint report:
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| Rule | Count |
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unresolved-attribute |
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unresolved-import |
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invalid-argument-type |
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unsupported-operator |
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First entries
tests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py:514: [unresolved-attribute] unresolved-attribute: Attribute `append` is not defined on `int` in union `list[Unknown] | int`
tests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py:515: [invalid-argument-type] invalid-argument-type: Argument to function `len` is incorrect: Expected `Sized`, found `list[Unknown] | int`
tests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py:521: [unsupported-operator] unsupported-operator: Operator `+=` is not supported between objects of type `list[Unknown]` and `Literal[1]`
plugins/web/xai/provider.py:189: [unresolved-attribute] unresolved-attribute: Attribute `strip` is not defined on `None` in union `Any | None | Literal["grok-4.3"]`
tests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py:614: [unresolved-import] unresolved-import: Cannot resolve imported module `httpx`
plugins/web/xai/provider.py:233: [unresolved-import] unresolved-import: Cannot resolve imported module `httpx`
✅ Fixed issues: none
Unchanged: 4725 pre-existing issues carried over.
Diagnostics are surfaced as warnings — this check never fails the build.
teknium1
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May 20, 2026
Follow-up to #29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search
Lillard01
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May 21, 2026
Follow-up to NousResearch#29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search
Gpapas
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May 23, 2026
Follow-up to NousResearch#29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search
Mucky010
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May 24, 2026
Follow-up to NousResearch#29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search
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Bryce-huang
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May 29, 2026
Follow-up to NousResearch#29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search #AI commit#
gweeteve
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Jun 2, 2026
Follow-up to NousResearch#29042 (xAI Web Search provider plugin). Adds xAI to the canonical user-facing and developer-facing docs, with the search-only caveat and the LLM-in-a-trench-coat trust model carried over from the class docstring. - user-guide/features/web-search.md - Backends table: new xAI row + extended search-only note - New 'xAI (Grok)' setup section with config knobs and trust-model caution admonition - Single-backend yaml comment now lists 'xai' - Auto-detection table: explicitly note that xAI is NOT auto-detected (XAI_API_KEY is shared with inference/TTS/image-gen so we don't silently take over web for users who only set it for chat) - developer-guide/web-search-provider-plugin.md - Added plugins/web/xai/ to the 'study these next' reference list - reference/environment-variables.md - XAI_API_KEY description now also mentions web search
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Salvage of #29036 by @Jaaneek onto current main.
Summary
New bundled web-search provider under
plugins/web/xai/— slots alongside Brave/Tavily/Exa/Firecrawl/SearXNG/DDGS. Opt in viaweb.backend: xai. Reuses existing xAI Grok OAuth /XAI_API_KEYcredential plumbing; no new credential paths, no new env vars, no setup-wizard prompts.Changes
plugins/web/xai/{plugin.yaml,__init__.py,provider.py}— new plugin, 560-line providertools/xai_http.py— adds cheaphas_xai_credentials()probe + keyword-onlyforce_refresharg onresolve_xai_http_credentials()(fully BC)tools/web_tools.py— 11 lines: "xai" added to configured-backend set +_is_backend_availablebranchtests/tools/test_web_providers_xai.py— 39 testsDesign notes
is_available()is a cheap probe (env var OR auth.json read); never invokes the OAuth resolver — honors the ABC contract that it's called on everyhermes toolsrepaintforce_refresh=Trueretry; env-var creds skip the retry (can't refresh){error: ...}envelopes surface as failures, not empty-resultsValidation
test_web_providers_xai.py)xai_httpcallers (tts/x_search/video_gen)Authorship preserved via cherry-pick. Closes #29036.