Query Regarding DuckDuckGo Search API Version Compatibility Issues

Title: DuckDuckGo Search API Compatibility Issues Causing "keywords is mandatory" Error

Description:

I'm using theknowledge_storm library for knowledge retrieval, which integrates DuckDuckGo search functionality, but I'm encountering the following error:

duckduckgo_search.DDGS : INFO     : Error to search using html backend: keywords is mandatory  ...  duckduckgo_search.exceptions.DuckDuckGoSearchException: keywords is mandatory

From the error logs, it appears that the search request is not correctly passing the keyword parameter, ultimately leading to:

AttributeError: 'DuckDuckGoSearchException' object has no attribute 'message'

Environment Details:

• Python Environment: Anaconda
• Relevant Libraries:
  • knowledge_storm
  • duckduckgo_search

Observed Issues:

1. The code attempts to useddgs.text() for searching.
2. A deprecation warning appears:backend='api' is deprecated, using backend='auto'.
3. Bothhtml andlite backends fail with the same error.
4. The final exception thrown iskeywords is mandatory.

Questions:

1. Version Compatibility: Could this be related to theduckduckgo_search library version? Which version is currently recommended?
2. Backend Selection: Should I explicitly set the search backend? Which one is more stable (html,lite, orapi)?
3. Error Handling Issue: Is the missingmessage attribute inDuckDuckGoSearchException a bug in the library or a usage problem?
4. Alternative Solutions: Are there recommended configurations or alternative approaches to resolve this?

What I've Tried:

• Verified that the query parameters are not empty.
• Checked theduckduckgo_search documentation, but version differences make it unclear.

Any guidance on correct configuration or version compatibility would be greatly appreciated!

(If relevant, I'm running this in a Windows environment with Python 3.x.)

Additional Notes:

• If there’s a known workaround or a more stable fork ofduckduckgo_search, please suggest it.
• Should I consider using an alternative search API (e.g., SerpAPI, Google Custom Search) instead?

Thanks in advance for your help!