diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f48245320ec..04010308c61 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Agents/models: keep legacy CLI runtime model refs such as `claude-cli/*` in the configured allowlist after canonical runtime migration, so cron `payload.model` overrides keep working. Fixes #75753. Thanks @RyanSandoval.
 - Plugin SDK: re-export `isPrivateIpAddress` from `plugin-sdk/ssrf-runtime`, restoring source-checkout builds for SearXNG and Firecrawl private-network guards. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - CLI/directory: report unsupported directory operations for installed channel plugins instead of prompting to reinstall the plugin when it lacks a directory adapter. Fixes #75770. Thanks @lawong888.
+- Web search/SearXNG: show the JSON API `search.formats` prerequisite during SearXNG setup before prompting for the base URL. Supersedes #65592. Thanks @evanpaul14.
 - Web search: keep public provider requests on the strict SSRF guard and reserve private-network access for explicit self-hosted SearXNG/Firecrawl endpoints. Fixes #74357 and supersedes #74360. Thanks @fede-kamel.
 - Web search/Firecrawl: allow self-hosted private/internal Firecrawl `baseUrl` endpoints, including HTTP for private targets, while keeping hosted Firecrawl on the strict official endpoint. Fixes #63877 and supersedes #59666, #63941, and #74013. Thanks @jhthompson12, @jzakirov, @Mlightsnow, and @shad0wca7.
 - Providers/OpenRouter: strip trailing assistant prefill turns from verified OpenRouter Anthropic model requests when reasoning is enabled, so Claude 4.6 routes no longer fail with Anthropic's prefill rejection through the OpenAI-compatible adapter. Fixes #75395. Thanks @sbmilburn.
diff --git a/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.test.ts b/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.test.ts
index c7b1cc0c8ad..20db0fdf142 100644
--- a/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.test.ts
@@ -145,6 +145,13 @@ describe("searxng web search provider", () => {
     expect(resolveSearxngLanguage(config)).toBe("de");
   });
 
+  it("exposes a credentialNote with JSON format guidance", () => {
+    const provider = createSearxngWebSearchProvider();
+
+    expect(provider.credentialNote).toContain("json format enabled");
+    expect(provider.credentialNote).toContain("search.formats");
+  });
+
   it("persists base URL to plugin config via setConfiguredCredentialValue", () => {
     const provider = createSearxngWebSearchProvider();
     const config = {} as Record<string, unknown>;
diff --git a/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.ts b/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.ts
index b68aec488ee..a47f400d8d3 100644
--- a/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.ts
+++ b/extensions/searxng/src/searxng-search-provider.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ export function createSearxngWebSearchProvider(): WebSearchProviderPlugin {
       configuredCredential: { pluginId: "searxng", field: "baseUrl" },
       selectionPluginId: "searxng",
     }),
+    credentialNote: [
+      "For the SearXNG JSON API to work, make sure your SearXNG instance",
+      "has the json format enabled in its settings.yml under search.formats.",
+    ].join("\n"),
     createTool: (ctx) => ({
       description:
         "Search the web using a self-hosted SearXNG instance. Returns titles, URLs, and snippets.",
diff --git a/src/flows/search-setup.test.ts b/src/flows/search-setup.test.ts
index f930927f67e..6147f3bab6e 100644
--- a/src/flows/search-setup.test.ts
+++ b/src/flows/search-setup.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const mockGrokProvider = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   envVars: ["XAI_API_KEY"],
   onboardingScopes: ["text-inference"],
   credentialPath: "plugins.entries.xai.config.webSearch.apiKey",
+  credentialNote: "Configure Grok web search prerequisites before entering the credential.",
   getCredentialValue: (search?: Record<string, unknown>) => search?.apiKey,
   setCredentialValue: (searchConfigTarget: Record<string, unknown>, value: unknown) => {
     searchConfigTarget.apiKey = value;
@@ -128,6 +129,79 @@ describe("runSearchSetupFlow", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("shows provider credential notes before plaintext credential prompts", async () => {
+    const select = vi.fn().mockResolvedValueOnce("grok").mockResolvedValueOnce("no");
+    const text = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue("xai-test-key");
+    const note = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const prompter = createWizardPrompter({
+      note: note as never,
+      select: select as never,
+      text: text as never,
+    });
+
+    await runSearchSetupFlow({ plugins: { allow: ["xai"] } }, createNonExitingRuntime(), prompter);
+
+    expect(note).toHaveBeenCalledWith(mockGrokProvider.credentialNote, mockGrokProvider.label);
+    expect(text).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(note.mock.invocationCallOrder[1]).toBeLessThan(text.mock.invocationCallOrder[0]);
+  });
+
+  it("shows provider credential notes before SecretRef setup notes", async () => {
+    const select = vi.fn().mockResolvedValueOnce("grok").mockResolvedValueOnce("no");
+    const note = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const prompter = createWizardPrompter({
+      note: note as never,
+      select: select as never,
+    });
+
+    await runSearchSetupFlow({ plugins: { allow: ["xai"] } }, createNonExitingRuntime(), prompter, {
+      secretInputMode: "ref",
+    });
+
+    expect(note).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      2,
+      mockGrokProvider.credentialNote,
+      mockGrokProvider.label,
+    );
+    expect(note).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      3,
+      expect.stringContaining("Secret references enabled"),
+      "Web search",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("skips provider credential notes in quickstart fast path", async () => {
+    const select = vi.fn().mockResolvedValueOnce("grok").mockResolvedValueOnce("no");
+    const note = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const prompter = createWizardPrompter({
+      note: note as never,
+      select: select as never,
+    });
+
+    await runSearchSetupFlow(
+      {
+        plugins: {
+          allow: ["xai"],
+          entries: {
+            xai: {
+              enabled: true,
+              config: {
+                webSearch: {
+                  apiKey: "xai-test-key",
+                },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      createNonExitingRuntime(),
+      prompter,
+      { quickstartDefaults: true },
+    );
+
+    expect(note).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(mockGrokProvider.credentialNote, mockGrokProvider.label);
+  });
+
   it("preserves disabled web_search state while still allowing provider-owned x_search setup", async () => {
     const select = vi
       .fn()
diff --git a/src/flows/search-setup.ts b/src/flows/search-setup.ts
index 947911482a0..13c8cece965 100644
--- a/src/flows/search-setup.ts
+++ b/src/flows/search-setup.ts
@@ -434,6 +434,10 @@ export async function runSearchSetupFlow(
     });
   }
 
+  if (entry.credentialNote) {
+    await prompter.note(entry.credentialNote, entry.label);
+  }
+
   const useSecretRefMode = opts?.secretInputMode === "ref"; // pragma: allowlist secret
   if (useSecretRefMode) {
     if (keyConfigured) {
diff --git a/src/plugins/web-provider-types.ts b/src/plugins/web-provider-types.ts
index 703ad31a5a4..380cebbb698 100644
--- a/src/plugins/web-provider-types.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/web-provider-types.ts
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ export type WebSearchProviderPlugin = {
   placeholder: string;
   signupUrl: string;
   docsUrl?: string;
+  /** Optional note shown before credential collection for provider-specific prerequisites. */
+  credentialNote?: string;
   autoDetectOrder?: number;
   credentialPath: string;
   inactiveSecretPaths?: string[];