Hermes Web Tools provides a read-only workflow for configuring, selecting, and troubleshooting Hermes web_search and web_extract backends.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install hermes-web-tools
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install hermes-web-tools using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Hermes Web Tools?
Hermes Web Tools is an Openclaw Skills utility for diagnosing failures in Hermes web_search and web_extract without making unapproved configuration changes. It explains backend priority, strict provider selection, credential discovery, bundled plugin behavior, and keyless fallback options.
The skill helps distinguish a genuine tool or configuration problem from a site-specific limitation, such as an empty extraction caused by a JavaScript SPA. It produces evidence-based fix options and exact commands, then waits for the operator to authorize a change.
Hermes Web Tools Use Cases
- Investigate a failing Hermes web_search or web_extract call.
- Determine whether an error affects the tool globally or only one target website.
- Inspect stored search and extraction backend selections in Hermes configuration.
- Identify available API credentials without exposing secret values.
- Detect stale, misspelled, unsupported, or capability-incompatible backend names.
- Explain why search works while extraction fails, or why an SPA returns empty content.
- Compare managed, keyed, keyless, and free-tier backend options before making a change.
- Troubleshoot bundled web plugins that appear as not enabled in
hermes plugins list.
How Hermes Web Tools Works
- Run a differential test against a known-good URL such as
https://example.comor the Wikipedia web-scraping page before changing configuration. - Reproduce the failure on the original URL and capture the exact error message or empty-result behavior.
- Inspect
~/.hermes/config.yamlforweb.search_backend,web.extract_backend, and the sharedweb.backendfallback. - Inspect
~/.hermes/.envfor credential names only, including provider variables such asTAVILY_API_KEY,EXA_API_KEY,FIRECRAWL_API_KEY,PARALLEL_API_KEY,KEENABLE_API_KEY, andBRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY. - Validate each stored backend against the supported provider list and confirm that it supports the requested capability.
- Check
hermes plugins listfor informational confirmation of the related bundledweb-*plugin; plugin status alone does not determine selection. - Explain whether the root cause is a bad stored selection, missing credentials, capability mismatch, provider behavior, or a site-specific JavaScript rendering limitation.
- Present exact remediation commands without running them automatically.
- After the operator selects a fix, apply it in an authorized workflow and start a new Hermes session with
/reset, because web configuration is not re-read mid-session.
Hermes Web Tools Setup
No separate package installation is required; the skill operates with a Linux Hermes installation and its existing configuration files. Use read-only inspection first:
hermes plugins list
grep -n -A5 '^web:' ~/.hermes/config.yaml
grep -oE '^(TAVILY|EXA|FIRECRAWL|PARALLEL|KEENABLE|BRAVE_SEARCH)_API_KEY' ~/.hermes/.env
Review backend selections against the supported names: tavily, exa, firecrawl, parallel, keenable, ddgs, searxng, brave-free, and xai. Do not expose or print secret values.
Only after explicit operator approval, a selection can be cleared to restore auto-detection:
hermes config set web.<key> ""
Replace <key> with the approved configuration key, such as backend, search_backend, or extract_backend. A new Hermes session is required after any configuration or toolset change. Keyless fallback and rescue behavior can be disabled only when explicitly requested:
hermes config set web.keyless_fallback false
hermes config set web.keyless_rescue false
Hermes Web Tools Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill works with Hermes configuration, environment metadata, provider capabilities, and diagnostic results.
| Data area | Location or field | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Skill metadata | SKILL.md front matter |
Defines the hermes-web-tools name, Linux support, MIT-0 license, Openclaw homepage, tags, and related skill. |
| Shared backend | web.backend |
Fallback selection for both web capabilities; nous represents the managed Tool Gateway. |
| Search override | web.search_backend |
Highest-priority provider selection for web_search. |
| Extract override | web.extract_backend |
Highest-priority provider selection for web_extract. |
| Fallback controls | web.keyless_fallback, web.keyless_rescue |
Controls keyless free-tier rotation and one-shot rescue behavior. |
| Credentials | ~/.hermes/.env |
Stores provider API keys; diagnostics inspect variable names, not secret values. |
| Configuration file | ~/.hermes/config.yaml |
Stores persisted web backend selections and related settings. |
| Plugin registry | hermes plugins list |
Shows bundled web-* plugins; a not enabled status is normal because plugins load on demand. |
| Diagnostic evidence | Tool response and known-good URL comparison | Separates provider/configuration faults from target-site or JavaScript-rendering limitations. |
Backend resolution follows this taxonomy: per-capability override first, shared web.backend second, and environment-variable auto-detection only when no selection has ever been stored. Stored names are used strictly as written; invalid names produce an explicit provider error rather than a silent fallback.
Hermes Web Tools Advanced Features
- Supports independent search and extraction backend selection, allowing configurations such as
ddgsfor search and a different provider for extraction. - Documents the keyless free-tier ring across Exa, Parallel, Tavily, Firecrawl, and Keenable with automatic failover.
- Supports one-shot keyless rescue for keyed backend failures without making the rescue provider sticky.
- Covers managed Tool Gateway routing through the
nousbackend. - Recognizes search-only providers such as
ddgs,searxng,brave-free, andxai. - Enforces strict selection semantics so stale or unknown backend names are surfaced instead of silently replaced.
- Uses differential testing to detect JavaScript SPA limitations before unnecessary configuration changes.
- Provides a safe operator approval boundary: investigate first, show exact commands, and never edit configuration autonomously.
- Accounts for session lifecycle behavior, including the need to use
/resetafter approved configuration changes.
SKILL.md
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