perplexity-mcp

perplexity-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API.

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Perplexity-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API. It works with the Anthropic Claude desktop client. The server allows users to search the web with specific queries and filter results by recency. It implements the perplexity_search_web tool, which takes a query as a required argument and can filter results by day, week, month, or year. Users need to set up environment variables, including the PERPLEXITY_API_KEY, to use the server. The tool can be installed via Smithery and requires UV for installation. It offers various models for different contexts and can be added as an MCP server in Cursor or Claude Desktop configurations.

README:

perplexity-mcp MCP server

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search functionality using Perplexity AI's API. Works with the Anthropic Claude desktop client.

Example

Let's you use prompts like, "Search the web to find out what's new at Anthropic in the past week."

Glama Scores

Perplexity Server MCP server

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 capabilities
    • sonar-reasoning-pro: 128k context - Advanced reasoning with professional focus
    • sonar-reasoning: 128k context - Enhanced reasoning capabilities
    • sonar-pro: 200k context - Professional grade model
    • sonar: 128k context - Default model
    • r1-1776: 128k context - Alternative architecture

And updated list of models is avaiable (here)[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

  • On MacOS: /Users/your-username/.cursor/mcp.json
  • On Windows: C:\Users\your-username\.cursor\mcp.json

If everything is working correctly, you should now be able to call the tool from Cursor. mcp_screenshot

Claude Desktop

  • 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 open to confirm tool usage. Click "Allow for this chat".

mcp_screenshot

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