Unpinned zero-credential installs now pick Exa or Parallel by the
parity of the per-process random session id (stable within a process,
even split fleet-wide) instead of always favoring Parallel. An explicit
hermes tools selection (web.backend / per-capability keys) bypasses the
split entirely; the runner-up vendor stays in the walk as fallback.
Live E2E: 6 fresh processes split 3/3 between vendors, each performed
a real keyless search via its picked endpoint; explicit pin verified.
Exa and Parallel now each render as two picker rows in hermes tools —
'Free (keyless)' and 'Paid (API key)'. Selection persists to
web.provider_tier.<name>:
- free: always the anonymous public endpoint, even with a key set
- paid: always the keyed SDK path; missing key errors instead of
silently downgrading to the free tier (is_keyless_available also
returns False so the auto-fallback walk can't route there)
- unset: auto (key present -> paid, else keyless)
Mechanism: get_setup_schema() gains a 'variants' list the picker
flattens into sibling rows sharing one web_backend; selection writes
the tier via both _write_provider_config sites; active-row detection
matches the tier (auto mirrors use_keyless). Routing goes through a
single use_keyless() chokepoint shared by search+extract in both
providers.
Live E2E: tier=free with a fake key present searched keyless OK (a
keyed call would have 401'd); tier=paid without key errored naming
PARALLEL_API_KEY; picker rows verified for both vendors x both tiers.
With zero web credentials configured, web_search/web_extract previously
resolved to the nonfunctional firecrawl sentinel and errored. Now the
backend resolution walks a strictly-last keyless tier: Parallel's and
Exa's public anonymous MCP endpoints (the same free tiers opencode ships
as its default search path).
- plugins/web/keyless_mcp.py: minimal JSON-RPC tools/call client for
mcp.exa.ai + search.parallel.ai (SSE + plain JSON parsing, typed
errors, per-process random session id, no user identifiers)
- WebSearchProvider.is_keyless_available(): separate weaker tier that
never leaks into is_available(), so keyed setups are never pre-empted
- Exa/Parallel providers: route to keyless endpoints when their key is
absent; keyed SDK path unchanged
- registry + _get_backend(): keyless walk (parallel -> exa) strictly
after every keyed/importable candidate; check_web_api_key() lights
the tools up on zero-credential installs
- web.keyless_fallback config key (default true) to disable the tier
- docs: web-search.md + configuration.md
E2E-verified against both live endpoints from an isolated HERMES_HOME
(search + extract via the real dispatchers, disable-flag negative path).
Teknium