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perplexity-mcp MCP server

perplexity-mcp MCP server

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github.com/jsonallenSearch310Updated 83w ago
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About perplexity-mcp MCP server

perplexity-mcp is an MCP server that gives clients web search through Perplexity AI's API. It is aimed at users who want search inside Claude Desktop or Cursor.

Key features

  1. 01Exposes a perplexity_search_web tool
  2. 02Filters results by day, week, month or year
  3. 03Selects the Perplexity model via environment variable
  4. 04Launches with uvx

Use cases

  1. 01Finding recent news about a company from the past week
  2. 02Searching the web from Cursor during coding
  3. 03Running time-bounded web searches in Claude Desktop

MCP support

This is an MCP server that exposes a perplexity_search_web tool and a matching prompt to MCP clients.

Configuration

Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.

mcp.json · Universal config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@smithery/cli"
      ]
    }
  }
}
Run commandnpx -y @smithery/cli

Local servers need a runtime on your machine (e.g. Node.js 18+). Config file locations differ by client; see your client’s docs.

Packages
npm@smithery/cli

Tools

No tool list yet

Local servers expose tools only once running on your machine, and the maintainer has not provided a tool list.

Details

From the project README

perplexity-mcp MCP server

smithery badge

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

Comments

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