Perplexity Web API MCP Server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes Perplexity AI search, research, and reasoning capabilities as tools.

Requirements

Supported Platforms

• macOS
• Linux
• ~~Windows~~ (not supported yet)

Supported Architectures

• x86_64
• aarch64

Configuration

User Tokens

This server requires a Perplexity AI account. You need to extract two authentication tokens from your browser cookies:

• PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN - The next-auth.session-token cookie value
• PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN - The next-auth.csrf-token cookie value

Getting Your Tokens

1. Log in to perplexity.ai in your browser
2. Open Developer Tools (F12 or right-click → Inspect)
3. Go to Application → Cookies → https://www.perplexity.ai
4. Copy the values of:
   • next-auth.session-token → use as PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN
   • next-auth.csrf-token → use as PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN

Claude Code

claude mcp add perplexity --env PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN="your-session-token" --env PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN="your-csrf-token" -- npx -y perplexity-web-api-mcp

Cursor, Claude Desktop & Windsurf

I recommend using the one-click install badge at the top of this README for Cursor.

For manual setup, all these clients use the same mcpServers format:

| Client | Config File | |--------|-------------| | Cursor | ~/.cursor/mcp.json | | Claude Desktop | claude_desktop_config.json | | Windsurf | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json |

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "perplexity-web-api-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN": "your-session-token",
        "PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN": "your-csrf-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

I recommend using the one-click install badge at the top of this README for VS Code, or for manual setup, add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "perplexity-web-api-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN": "your-session-token",
        "PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN": "your-csrf-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

codex mcp add perplexity --env PERPLEXITY_SESSION_TOKEN="your-session-token" --env PERPLEXITY_CSRF_TOKEN="your-csrf-token" -- npx -y perplexity-web-api-mcp

Other MCP Clients

Most clients can be manually configured to use the mcpServers wrapper in their configuration file (like Cursor). If your client doesn't work, check its documentation for the correct wrapper format.

Available Tools

perplexity_search

Quick web search using Perplexity's turbo model.

Best for: Quick questions, everyday searches, and conversational queries that benefit from web context.

Parameters:

• query (required): The search query or question
• sources (optional): Array of sources - "web", "scholar", "social". Defaults to ["web"]
• language (optional): Language code, e.g., "en-US". Defaults to "en-US"

perplexity_research

Deep, comprehensive research using Perplexity's sonar-deep-research (pplx_alpha) model.

Best for: Complex topics requiring detailed investigation, comprehensive reports, and in-depth analysis. Provides thorough analysis with citations.

Parameters: Same as perplexity_search

perplexity_reason

Advanced reasoning and problem-solving using Perplexity's sonar-reasoning-pro (pplx_reasoning) model.

Best for: Logical problems, complex analysis, decision-making, and tasks requiring step-by-step reasoning.

Parameters: Same as perplexity_search

Response Format

All tools return a JSON response with:

{
  "answer": "The generated answer text...",
  "chunks": [
    // Citation/source chunks from Perplexity
  ],
  "follow_up": {
    "backend_uuid": "uuid-for-follow-up-queries",
    "attachments": []
  }
}

License

MIT