Perplexity MCP

At a glance

This is the official server from Perplexity. It has four tools: a plain web search that returns ranked results with dates, a quick answer tool, a reasoning tool for harder questions, and a research tool that can work for several minutes and write a detailed, cited report. The three answer tools run on Perplexity presets that the company tunes over time.

Every call goes through the Perplexity API, which has its own pay-as-you-go billing, so you need an API key with credit on it. You can run it locally with npx or point your client at the hosted copy Perplexity runs at api.perplexity.ai/mcp.

Made by

Perplexity AI

Licence

MIT

Latest version

1.3.0 (25 Sept 2026)

npm package

@perplexity-ai/mcp-server

GitHub stars

2.6K

Last commit

21 Oct 2026

Tools

4

Runs on

Your computer or hosted

Our check: We ran this exact config on 27 Oct 2026: it started and answered with 4 tools. The shared database gave "@chatmcp/server-perplexity-ask", a package by someone else. Perplexity publishes @perplexity-ai/mcp-server, and the repository has moved to perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol.

What's in the pod: its tools

We found 4 tools when we started it on 27 Oct 2026. Every one of them only reads, so nothing changes unless you act on what it finds.

Grouped and described by us. The README on GitHub lists the inputs each tool takes.

Set it up

Pick your app for the exact snippet and where it goes.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add-json perplexity '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"],"env":{"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY":"YOUR_API_KEY"}}'

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

If your client fails to start it with an initialize or EOF error, use "-yq" instead of "-y" so npx stays quiet. Long research calls may need PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS raised above the 5-minute default.

Remote option

Hosted by Perplexity with the same tools. Send your API key as an "Authorization: Bearer" header.

https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp

New to this? See the setup guides for Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop and ChatGPT.

Settings

Names are exactly as the project spells them. Required ones are marked.

What it can touch

Safer setup: Nothing it does changes your files or accounts. Set a spending limit in the API console, since research calls cost more than plain searches.

Before you start

• A Perplexity API key with credit
• Node.js, for the local version

If it does not work

The client reports an initialize or EOF error

npx can print install messages that confuse strict clients. Use -yq instead of -y in the args.

Research calls time out

Raise PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS, for example to 600000 for ten minutes.

Requests fail at work

Set PERPLEXITY_PROXY to your company proxy and check that api.perplexity.ai is allowed.

Authentication errors

Check that PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is set where the client starts the server and that the account has API credit.

Peas in a pod: similar servers

How Perplexity MCP lines up against other browser and web data servers on the shelf.

Questions

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.