# Does SearXNG claim a question it cannot answer? (V-539)

Measured 2026-08-05 against the configured instance, `http://127.0.0.1:9563`,
`max_results: 4`, `language: auto`. Sixteen Russian questions: eight real, eight
invented from non-words. The probe read SearXNG's JSON directly, so this measures
the search, not the cascade around it.

## The premise no longer reproduces

V-539 was filed on the 2026-08-02 measurement, where SearXNG returned four
results for every query including `зыркабулентный флогистон Мшанского`, and no
`voice: kiwix:` line ever appeared. Today the same shape of query returns
nothing:

| Query set | Zero results | Four results claimed |
|---|---|---|
| Eight real questions | 0 | 8 |
| Eight invented questions | 7 | 1 |

`Response.Empty()` is already the gate. Seven of eight invented questions now
pass the turn to the ZIM with no code change at all. What changed is upstream.
Every real answer today comes from `google cse`. It answers a non-word with an
empty result set, where the engine set of three days ago answered with
something.

## The one that still claims

`трюмбальная нидроскопия` returned four results, all about a lumbar puncture:

```
Люмбальная пункция - адреса и стоимость в больницах в СПб
Пункция спинного мозга - Больница «Шиба
Педиатрический фантом люмбальной пункции новорожденного
```

The engine read the invented word as a misspelling of a real one and answered
the real one. That is the whole remaining failure, and it is a near-miss
spelling rather than a catch-all.

## The three candidate signals do not separate the sets

V-539 named three signals a quality gate could read. Each was recorded per
query:

- **No result title shares a token with the query.** Useless. It is true of the
  one bad claim, and also true of `столица Франции`, whose four titles are
  `Париж`, `Франция`, `Париж — Путеводитель`, `Париж - Море Трэвел`. The right
  answer to a capital-city question is the city, which is not a word in the
  question. Two more real questions score 3 of 4 rather than 4.
- **Every snippet is empty.** Never fired. Zero empty snippets across all
  sixteen queries, real or invented. `ParseResponse` already drops a hit with no
  text, so this signal cannot fire by construction.
- **A spelling-suggestion or catch-all engine answered.** Never fired. SearXNG
  returned no `corrections` and no `suggestions` for any query, including the one
  that silently corrected the spelling itself.

## Decision: do not build the threshold

A gate on token overlap would cost `столица Франции` a correct answer to save
one invented word, and the other two signals cannot fire. The task said a wrong
threshold costs a real answer and needs measuring first. It was measured and it
loses.

What ships instead is the second half of V-539. The claiming query source now
crosses the IPC seam on `ipc.ChatReply.Source`. It renders as a badge beside the
reply on `/chat`. The only evidence before it was a `voice:` log line, which is
why this was hard to judge. The next occurrence is readable off the UI rather
than off the box.

## Not measured here

- The cascade. This probe read SearXNG directly. It says nothing about how
  `querySearch` phrases what it gets, or whether the resident model turns four
  weak snippets into a confident wrong sentence.
- Kiwix. It was healthy on 2026-08-02 and was not re-probed today.
- English questions. The premise was about Russian, where the invented words are.
- Whether the engine set is stable. The whole finding is that it moved in three
  days, so this table is a reading of one day.
