# Web search and extraction: collect usable source evidence

> Discover pages and retrieve readable source content with a configured backend, keeping search results distinct from verified evidence.

Canonical: https://hermeswatcher.com/tools/web-search  
Kind: Capability · Research & knowledge work  
Last reviewed: Oct 19, 2026  
Basis: Explained from the official Hermes Agent docs and repository (Nous Research). Steps follow the linked official sources.

## What it is for

Hermes documents separate tools for ranked search results and readable page extraction. Several backends are available, but support for search and extraction differs. This is a useful foundation for briefings and editorial research: search finds candidates, extraction helps inspect them, and the final output should preserve original links and dates. Use a browser only when interaction or rendering makes extraction insufficient.

## What you need

- A chosen search backend and, when needed, a compatible extraction route.
- Provider authentication where required and a bounded research question with an explicit date window.

## Setting it up

1. Inspect the current web-tool backend through the documented configuration interface. Confirm both search and extraction capabilities rather than assuming one implies the other.
2. Test a known public page, then run a small query. Preserve URLs, publication dates where available, and retrieval gaps in the research record.

## How to check it works

- Open representative original sources and compare the extracted material with what the final summary claims.
- Separate publication date, event date, and collection time. Merge duplicate reports about the same underlying event.

## Limits

- Search snippets may omit context; extracted text can miss tables, images, paywalled material, or dynamically loaded sections.
- Provider quotas and availability change. Failed retrieval should remain an explicit gap instead of being replaced by an unsupported summary.

## Related workflows

- [Wake up to a useful research briefing](https://hermeswatcher.com/workflows/daily-research-briefing.md)
- [Collect content ideas without losing the evidence](https://hermeswatcher.com/workflows/content-research-queue.md)

## Sources

- [Official web search and extraction](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/web-search)

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HermesWatcher is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nous Research. The [official Hermes Agent documentation](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs) and [repository](https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent) from Nous Research are the authority; each page here lists the official sources it was written from. If this site and the official docs disagree, trust the official docs. Index for agents: https://hermeswatcher.com/llms.txt