perplexity-mcp
by: jsonallen
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API.
📌Overview
Purpose: To provide an MCP server that enables web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API for enhanced information retrieval.
Overview: The Perplexity MCP server integrates with the Anthropic Claude desktop client, allowing users to perform web searches effortlessly. By leveraging the API from Perplexity AI, it effectively facilitates real-time access to updated information, enabling users to query the web for recent developments in specified domains.
Key Features:
-
Web Search Functionality: Users can execute web searches through the
perplexity_search_web
command by providing a search query. This feature is critical for seeking out the latest information across various topics. -
Recency Filtering: The tool allows users to filter search results based on recency (last 24 hours, last week, etc.), enhancing the relevance of the retrieved data according to the user's needs.
perplexity-mcp MCP server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API. Works with the Anthropic Claude desktop client.
Example
You can use prompts like:
"Search the web to find out what's new at Anthropic in the past week."
Components
Prompts
The server provides a single prompt:
- perplexity_search_web: Search the web using Perplexity AI
- Required "query" argument for the search query
- Optional "recency" argument to filter results by time period:
- 'day': last 24 hours
- 'week': last 7 days
- 'month': last 30 days (default)
- 'year': last 365 days
- Uses Perplexity's API to perform web searches
Tools
The server implements one tool:
- perplexity_search_web: Search the web using Perplexity AI
- Takes "query" as a required string argument
- Optional "recency" parameter to filter results (day/week/month/year)
- Returns search results from Perplexity's API
Installation
Installing via Smithery
To install Perplexity MCP for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install perplexity-mcp --client claude
Requires UV (Fast Python package and project manager)
If uv isn't installed:
# Using Homebrew on macOS
brew install uv
or
# On macOS and Linux
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# On Windows
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
Environment Variables
The following environment variable is required in your claude_desktop_config.json. You can obtain an API key from Perplexity:
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY
: Your Perplexity AI API key
Optional environment variables:
PERPLEXITY_MODEL
: The Perplexity model to use (defaults to "sonar" if not specified)
Available models:
sonar-deep-research
: 128k context - Enhanced research capabilitiessonar-reasoning-pro
: 128k context - Advanced reasoning with professional focussonar-reasoning
: 128k context - Enhanced reasoning capabilitiessonar-pro
: 200k context - Professional grade modelsonar
: 128k context - Default modelr1-1776
: 128k context - Alternative architecture
Updated list of models is available: https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/model-cards
Cursor & Claude Desktop Installation
Add this tool as a MCP server by editing the Cursor/Claude config file:
"perplexity-mcp": {
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar"
},
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"perplexity-mcp"
]
}
Cursor config file locations:
- On macOS:
/Users/your-username/.cursor/mcp.json
- On Windows:
C:\Users\your-username\.cursor\mcp.json
Claude Desktop config file locations:
- On macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- On Windows:
%APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
To verify the server is working, open the Claude client and use a prompt like:
"search the web for news about openai in the past week". You should see an alert box asking to confirm tool usage. Click "Allow for this chat".