search-bots: fix reliability (diagnosed) - gemini 3-retry + grok xsearch auto-fallback to gemini

Mike's must-fix. Diagnosed from RAW output of failing queries (not guessed):
- grok xsearch = TIMEOUT: grok-4.20-multi-agent web_search runs past budget on multi-part queries
  (286s/280s, rc=124, still searching - 183 thoughts, only progress-noise text); buffered json => total loss.
- gemini search = INTERMITTENT empty turn (a clean re-run gave a real 2.6KB answer in 122s); the wrapper
  retried only once, so two empties in a row failed spuriously.

Fixes:
- ask-gemini.sh emit_or_fail: retry up to 3x with 3s/6s backoff (was 1).
- ask-grok.sh xsearch: --output-format streaming-json (salvage partials) + AUTO-FALLBACK to
  ask-gemini.sh search when grok doesn't finish (rc!=0 or empty). Validated e2e: grok timed out
  (rc=124) -> fell back -> gemini returned a real sourced answer (UniFi Teleport invite-link API).

grok's own multi-agent timeout is an xAI-side limitation; the fallback makes xsearch reliable regardless.
Docs: grok SKILL.md xsearch row + CT_THOUGHTS Thought 2 Resolution.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.claude/skills/grok/scripts/ask-grok.sh

@@ -218,21 +218,32 @@ case "$MODE" in
     ;;
   xsearch)
     [ -z "${1:-}" ] && { echo "usage: $SELF xsearch \"<query>\"" >&2; exit 2; }
-    # web_search runs the grok-4.20-multi-agent model -> subagents MUST stay enabled
-    # (--no-subagents made it hang with ZERO output, the long-standing xsearch bug).
-    # --yolo is the documented headless tool-run posture (README/14-headless-mode.md).
-    # Budget is generous: a live web_search measured ~83s end-to-end.
-    GROK_SUBAGENT_FLAGS=()
-    GROK_PERM_FLAGS=(--yolo)
-    GROK_MODEL=""   # search runs the separate grok-4.20-multi-agent model; use runtime default orchestrator
-    # Lead with web_search (fast); pull in X/Twitter ONLY when the query is actually
-    # about social/news/sentiment. Mandating X search on every call ran the multi-agent
-    # searcher long enough to blow a 240s budget. Generous 300s budget for headroom.
-    printf 'Use your web_search tool to answer this question and cite sources. Use your X/Twitter search tools ONLY if the question is specifically about social media, breaking news, or public sentiment. Then stop.\n\nQuestion: %s' "$1" > "$PF"
-    run_grok 300 --max-turns 14
-    txt="$(jfield text)"
-    if [ -n "$txt" ]; then printf '%s\n' "$txt"; else
-      echo "[$SELF] no result (stopReason=$(jfield stopReason))" >&2; _logerr "grok xsearch returned no result" --context "mode=xsearch stopReason=$(jfield stopReason)"; exit 1; fi
+    # web_search uses the grok-4.20-multi-agent model (subagents ON, --yolo). It frequently TIMES
+    # OUT on multi-part research queries (verified 2026-06-17: 280-286s, no answer, still searching),
+    # and buffered json => total loss. So: (1) streaming-json to salvage any partial that streamed;
+    # (2) a moderate budget; (3) AUTO-FALLBACK to gemini search (the reliable engine, ~120s) when grok
+    # doesn't finish. Net: xsearch returns an answer even though grok alone is flaky here.
+    Q="$1"
+    printf 'Use your web_search tool: run a few TARGETED searches and give a CONCISE answer with source URLs, then stop.\n\nQuestion: %s' "$Q" > "$PF"
+    "$TIMEOUT_CMD" 240 "$GROK" --prompt-file "$(winpath "$PF")" --output-format streaming-json \
+      --yolo --no-plan --cwd "$(winpath "$RUN_CWD")" --max-turns 14 >"$OUT" 2>"$TMP/err.txt"; GRC=$?
+    ans="$("$PY" -c '
+import json,sys
+t=[]
+for ln in sys.stdin:
+    ln=ln.strip()
+    if not ln: continue
+    try: e=json.loads(ln)
+    except: continue
+    if e.get("type")=="text": t.append(e.get("data",""))
+print("".join(t).strip())' < "$OUT")"
+    if [ "$GRC" -eq 0 ] && [ -n "$ans" ]; then printf '%s\n' "$ans"; exit 0; fi
+    echo "[$SELF] grok xsearch did not finish (rc=$GRC) -> falling back to gemini search" >&2
+    _logerr "grok xsearch incomplete (rc=$GRC); auto-fell back to gemini" --context "mode=xsearch"
+    GEM="$REPO_ROOT/.claude/skills/agy/scripts/ask-gemini.sh"
+    if [ -f "$GEM" ]; then echo "[grok xsearch timed out -> answered via gemini search]"; exec bash "$GEM" search "$Q"; fi
+    [ -n "$ans" ] && { printf '%s\n' "$ans"; exit 0; }   # last resort: whatever partial streamed
+    echo "[$SELF] no result (grok timed out; gemini fallback unavailable)" >&2; exit 1
     ;;
   review|file)
     [ -z "${1:-}" ] && { echo "usage: $SELF review <file-path> [instructions]" >&2; exit 2; }