What This Does

This MCP server connects AI assistants to Perplexity AI's search API. Ask questions in natural language and get grounded, cited answers from the live web — directly inside Claude or any MCP-compatible client.

One tool, full control: perplexity_search_web exposes the complete Perplexity API — recency filtering, model selection, temperature, top_k/top_p, citation/image toggles, and streaming.

Getting Started

1. Get a Perplexity API Key

Sign up at perplexity.ai and generate an API key from your account settings.

2. Install & Configure

Claude Code (Recommended)

claude mcp add perplexity -- npx -y @jschuller/perplexity-mcp

Then set your API key:

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-your-key-here

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@jschuller/perplexity-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

From Source

git clone https://github.com/jschuller/perplexity-mcp.git
cd perplexity-mcp
npm install && npm run build

3. Verify

Ask Claude: "Search the web for the latest developments in quantum computing from the last week"

Tool Reference

perplexity_search_web

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | query | string | (required) | Search query | | recency | day | week | month | year | month | Filter results by time period | | model | string | sonar | Perplexity model (model cards) | | temperature | number | — | Randomness (0 = deterministic, 2 = creative) | | max_tokens | integer | — | Maximum tokens to generate | | top_k | integer | — | Limit high-probability token pool (0 = disable) | | top_p | number | — | Nucleus sampling threshold | | frequency_penalty | number | — | Penalize repeated tokens | | presence_penalty | number | — | Encourage topic variety | | return_citations | boolean | true | Include source citations | | return_images | boolean | false | Include relevant images | | stream | boolean | false | Stream response incrementally |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | PERPLEXITY_API_KEY | Yes | — | Your Perplexity API key | | PERPLEXITY_MODEL | No | sonar | Default model for all queries |

Available Models

• sonar — Standard model (default)
• sonar-pro — Enhanced capabilities
• See full list: Perplexity Model Cards

Security

• API key stays in your local environment — never sent anywhere except the Perplexity API
• The server communicates only with api.perplexity.ai over HTTPS
• No data is stored or logged beyond the API request lifecycle
• See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting

Troubleshooting

| Issue | Fix | |---|---| | PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is required | Set the env var in your MCP client config or shell | | 400 invalid_request_error | Update to v2.1.0+ (fixes JSON Schema validation with Claude Code) | | Server not found | Verify npx @jschuller/perplexity-mcp runs without error | | Connection timeout | Check internet connectivity and Perplexity API status |

Contributing

Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT