pplx-cli

CLI for Perplexity AI with cookie-based authentication. Designed for headless/agent-first usage — no browser required at runtime.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Google Chrome (only for initial cookie extraction via pplx auth)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/rajanrengasamy/pplx-cli.git
cd pplx-cli
npm install
npm link

Authentication

Extract cookies from Chrome (one-time setup):

pplx auth
pplx auth --test    # verify cookies work

Cookies are stored at ~/.config/pplx/cookies.json.

Usage

# Search (default: pro mode, headless HTTP)
pplx search "what is quantum computing"

# Reasoning mode
pplx reason "explain the Riemann hypothesis"

# Deep research
pplx research "compare React vs Vue in 2026"

# Labs (free, no auth needed)
pplx labs "hello world"

# List models
pplx models

Options

pplx search "query" --mode auto|pro|reasoning|deep-research
pplx search "query" --model claude-3.5-sonnet
pplx search "query" --json          # single JSON object output
pplx search "query" --raw           # plain text, no colors/spinner
pplx search "query" --chrome        # use Chrome CDP bridge instead of HTTP
pplx search "query" --curl          # force curl-impersonate for TLS
pplx search "query" --incognito     # don't save to Perplexity history
pplx search "query" --citations-full  # show full source details

Agent/Automation Usage

pplx-cli is designed to work in automated pipelines and with AI agents:

# Plain text output (no colors, no spinner)
pplx search "query" --raw

# Read query from stdin
echo "what is 2+2" | pplx search -

# JSON output (single object: {answer, sources, query, mode, model})
pplx search "query" --json

# Pipe-friendly (auto-detects non-TTY)
pplx search "query" | head -1

# Non-zero exit code when no answer is returned
pplx search "query" --json || echo "failed"

Architecture

• Default mode: Headless HTTP with stored cookies (no browser needed)
• Optional: --chrome flag uses Chrome CDP bridge for TLS fingerprinting bypass
• SSE streaming: Real-time answer streaming via Server-Sent Events
• Cookie auth: One-time extraction from Chrome, then fully headless

Configuration

Optional config file at ~/.config/pplx/config.json:

{
  "mode": "pro",
  "model": "claude-3.5-sonnet",
  "lang": "en-US"
}

Acknowledgements

This project was inspired by and built upon the reverse-engineering work in helallao/perplexity-ai — a Python library for the Perplexity AI API. The authentication flow, SSE protocol handling, and API structure were all derived from studying that project. Big thanks to @helallao for figuring out the hard parts.

pplx-cli is a ground-up Node.js reimplementation for CLI/agentic use cases, but it wouldn't exist without that foundational work.

License

MIT