The Problem
Hermes v0.12 agents rely on a single search provider for web grounding. When that provider has downtime, returns empty results, or rate-limits the agent, the entire conversation degrades. The agent either hallucinates answers or refuses to respond. There is no built-in fallback mechanism, and adding one requires changing the agent's tool configuration.
The Scavio Solution
Add Scavio as a fallback search provider in the Hermes v0.12 tool chain. When the primary provider returns empty results or errors, the agent automatically retries through Scavio. This requires adding a wrapper function around the search tool that tries the primary provider first and falls back to Scavio on failure. Zero changes to the agent's prompt or reasoning logic.
Before
Before adding a fallback, a Hermes v0.12 agent experienced 3-4 hours of degraded search per week due to provider outages. During those windows, the agent's answer quality dropped and users reported hallucinated responses for current-events queries.
After
After adding Scavio as a fallback, the agent maintains search grounding even during primary provider outages. Fallback triggers automatically and transparently. Total fallback queries average 200-300 per week at $1.00-1.50. Agent uptime for search-grounded answers improved from 96% to 99.5%.
Who It Is For
Developers running Hermes v0.12 agents who need search reliability guarantees and cannot afford agent degradation during provider outages.
Key Benefits
- Automatic fallback when primary search provider fails
- Zero changes to agent prompt or reasoning logic
- 200-300 fallback queries per week at $1.00-1.50
- Search uptime improves from 96% to 99.5%
- Works with any Hermes v0.12 tool configuration
Python Example
import requests, os
H = {'x-api-key': os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']}
def search_with_fallback(query: str, primary_fn=None) -> list[dict]:
"""Try primary search, fall back to Scavio on failure."""
if primary_fn:
try:
results = primary_fn(query)
if results and len(results) > 0:
return results
except Exception:
pass # Fall through to Scavio
# Scavio fallback
r = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', headers=H,
json={'platform': 'google', 'query': query}, timeout=10).json()
organic = r.get('organic', [])
return [{'title': o['title'], 'snippet': o.get('snippet', ''),
'url': o.get('link', ''), 'source': 'scavio_fallback'}
for o in organic[:5]]
# Usage in Hermes tool chain:
# Register search_with_fallback as the search tool
results = search_with_fallback('python 3.14 release date')
for r in results:
print(f"[{r.get('source', 'primary')}] {r['title']}")JavaScript Example
const H = { 'x-api-key': process.env.SCAVIO_API_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };
async function searchWithFallback(query, primaryFn = null) {
if (primaryFn) {
try {
const results = await primaryFn(query);
if (results && results.length > 0) return results;
} catch (e) { /* fall through to Scavio */ }
}
const r = await fetch('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', {
method: 'POST', headers: H,
body: JSON.stringify({ platform: 'google', query })
}).then(r => r.json());
return (r.organic || []).slice(0, 5).map(o => ({
title: o.title, snippet: o.snippet || '', url: o.link || '',
source: 'scavio_fallback'
}));
}
const results = await searchWithFallback('python 3.14 release date');
results.forEach(r => console.log(`[${r.source || 'primary'}] ${r.title}`));Platforms Used
Web search with knowledge graph, PAA, and AI overviews
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