# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Keyless Exa search CJK and fallback fixes

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items concern bugs and fixes in keyless Exa web search, specifically around CJK query failures, non-ASCII text mangling, and fallback behavior when results are empty or errors occur.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #112249. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #112249 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `resolved` · deciding PR(s): `pr-112249`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.67`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #112074: Keyless Exa search fails on CJK queries (reported as "Unrecognized MCP response shape"; ring then falls through to keyless Firecrawl, which 403s)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#112249: fix(web): keyless Exa search works for CJK queries and stops mangling non-ASCII text (#112074)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `plugins/web/keyless_mcp.py`, `tests/tools/test_web_keyless_fallback.py`
- **#112077: fix(web): fail over from empty keyless Exa results**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `4b00842536`, `#112249`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #112249 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-16`.