Harden private search fallback and freshness handling

dev/test_web_search_mcp.py

@@ -39,6 +39,23 @@ class WebSearchMcpTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(results, [])
         wikipedia.assert_not_called()
 
+    def test_empty_fresh_search_relaxes_once_and_marks_result(self) -> None:
+        hit = {"title": "Current page", "url": "https://example.com/current"}
+        with mock.patch.object(
+            WEB,
+            "general_discovery",
+            side_effect=[([], []), ([hit], [])],
+        ) as discovery:
+            result = WEB.web_search({
+                "query": "current test release",
+                "freshness": "week",
+                "max_results": 3,
+            })
+        self.assertTrue(result["task_complete"])
+        self.assertFalse(result["freshness_applied"])
+        self.assertIn("unfiltered", result["backend_warning"])
+        self.assertEqual(discovery.call_count, 2)
+
     def test_related_search_budget_is_enforced(self) -> None:
         with mock.patch.object(WEB, "SEARCH_BUDGET_MAX_RELATED_CALLS", 2):
             self.assertTrue(WEB.consume_search_budget("latest Proper People video")[0])

platform/web-search/searxng-settings.example.yml

@@ -20,3 +20,13 @@ server:
 outgoing:
   request_timeout: 8.0
   max_request_timeout: 15.0
+
+# Several default general-purpose engines aggressively block datacenter IPs.
+# Bing is disabled in SearXNG's upstream defaults but works reliably from the
+# Athena egress path.  Explicitly enabling it gives the private metasearch a
+# useful primary engine while the others remain independent fallbacks.
+engines:
+  - name: bing
+    engine: bing
+    shortcut: bi
+    disabled: false

platform/web-search/web_search_mcp.py

@@ -1614,6 +1614,7 @@ def web_search(arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
     )
     results: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
     backend_warning = None
+    freshness_applied = freshness == "any"
     if backend in {"github", "huggingface"}:
         try:
             results.extend(specialized_search(backend, query, limit))
@@ -1626,6 +1627,14 @@ def web_search(arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
             results.extend(parse_search_xml(payload, limit))
     else:
         discovered, discovery_warnings = general_discovery(scoped_query, limit, freshness)
+        freshness_applied = freshness == "any" or bool(discovered)
+        if not discovered and freshness != "any":
+            discovered, relaxed_warnings = general_discovery(scoped_query, limit, "any")
+            discovery_warnings.extend(relaxed_warnings)
+            if discovered:
+                discovery_warnings.append(
+                    f"No results survived freshness={freshness}; returned unfiltered discovery results. Verify publication dates before claiming recency."
+                )
         results.extend(discovered)
         if discovery_warnings:
             backend_warning = "; ".join(discovery_warnings)
@@ -1636,6 +1645,7 @@ def web_search(arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
         "query": query,
         "backend_used": backend,
         "freshness": freshness,
+        "freshness_applied": freshness_applied,
         "domain_filters": {"include": includes, "exclude": excludes},
         "result_semantics": (
             "api_verified evidence comes from the named primary API. preview_unverified is "