Perplexity MCP Server

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that integrates Perplexity's advanced AI capabilities into your workflow. This server provides access to Perplexity's conversational AI, deep research, reasoning models, and web search API, enabling you to perform sophisticated queries, conduct comprehensive research, and access up-to-date information with citations. Perfect for developers and teams who need intelligent search and analysis capabilities integrated directly into their applications.

Overview

The Perplexity MCP Server bridges the gap between your applications and Perplexity's suite of AI-powered tools. Whether you need quick answers with sources, deep research on complex topics, logical reasoning for problem-solving, or structured web search results, this server provides a unified interface to access all of Perplexity's capabilities through the Model Context Protocol.

Features

Conversational AI: Engage with Perplexity's Sonar API for natural language interactions with automatic citation support
Deep Research: Conduct comprehensive research using specialized models designed for in-depth analysis
Advanced Reasoning: Access reasoning-focused models for logical problem-solving and analytical tasks
Web Search: Perform structured web searches with ranked results, snippets, and metadata
Citation Support: Automatic source tracking and citation management across all interactions
Resource Management: Access and manage conversations, search results, citations, and research findings through structured resources
Regional Search: Support for country-specific search results to get regionally relevant information

Tools

perplexity_ask

Engages in conversations using Perplexity's Sonar API. This tool allows you to have natural language conversations while automatically receiving citations for the information provided.

Parameters:

messages (required): An array of conversation messages
- Each message must include:
  - role (string): The role of the message sender (e.g., "system", "user", "assistant")
  - content (string): The actual content of the message

Use Cases:

Quick question-answering with sources
Conversational information retrieval
Building chatbots with citation support
Interactive knowledge exploration

perplexity_research

Performs comprehensive deep research using Perplexity's specialized research model. This tool is designed for complex topics that require thorough investigation and analysis.

Parameters:

messages (required): An array of conversation messages
- Each message must include:
  - role (string): The role of the message sender (e.g., "system", "user", "assistant")
  - content (string): The actual content of the message

Use Cases:

Academic research assistance
Market analysis and competitive intelligence
Technical documentation research
Comprehensive topic exploration
Multi-source information synthesis

perplexity_reason

Executes reasoning tasks using Perplexity's sonar-reasoning-pro model. This tool excels at logical analysis, problem-solving, and tasks requiring structured thinking.

Parameters:

messages (required): An array of conversation messages
- Each message must include:
  - role (string): The role of the message sender (e.g., "system", "user", "assistant")
  - content (string): The actual content of the message

Use Cases:

Complex problem-solving
Logical analysis and deduction
Decision support systems
Strategic planning assistance
Mathematical and analytical reasoning

perplexity_search

Performs structured web searches using Perplexity's Search API. Returns ranked results with comprehensive metadata, making it ideal for programmatic search integration.

Parameters:

query (required, string): The search query string
country (optional, string): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for regional results (e.g., "US", "GB")
max_results (optional, number): Maximum number of results to return, between 1 and 20 (default: 10)
max_tokens_per_page (optional, number): Maximum tokens to extract per webpage, between 256 and 2048 (default: 1024)

Use Cases:

Automated information gathering
Content aggregation
Market monitoring
News tracking
Research data collection

Resource Templates

The Perplexity MCP Server provides structured access to various types of data through resource templates. These templates allow you to retrieve and reference specific information in a consistent way.

search-result

Access detailed results from a specific search query.

URI Format: search-result://{query}

This resource provides access to the complete results of a search operation, including all returned pages, snippets, and metadata. Useful for reviewing past searches or building search history functionality.

conversation

Access a specific conversation thread with all messages.

URI Format: conversation://{conversationId}

Retrieve complete conversation histories, including all messages exchanged in a particular conversation session. Perfect for building conversation management systems or reviewing past interactions.

citation

Access detailed information about a specific citation or source.

URI Format: citation://{citationUrl}

Fetch comprehensive details about sources cited in responses, including full URLs, metadata, and context. Essential for fact-checking and source verification workflows.

research

Access a completed research task with all findings and citations.

URI Format: research://{topic}

Retrieve comprehensive research results on a specific topic, including all findings, sources, and analysis. Ideal for building knowledge bases or research repositories.

Benefits

The Perplexity MCP Server offers several key advantages for developers and organizations:

Unified Interface: Access all of Perplexity's capabilities through a single, standardized protocol, reducing integration complexity and maintenance overhead.

Citation Tracking: Automatic source citation across all tools ensures transparency and enables fact-checking, critical for applications requiring verifiable information.

Flexible Integration: The MCP protocol allows seamless integration with various applications and workflows, from chatbots to research tools to automated analysis systems.

Scalable Search: Configurable search parameters let you balance between broad discovery and focused results, adapting to different use cases and performance requirements.

Resource Management: Structured resource templates provide organized access to historical data, making it easy to build features like search history, conversation replay, and source management.

Getting Started

To begin using the Perplexity MCP Server, you'll need to understand how each tool fits your use case. For quick questions and interactive conversations, use perplexity_ask. When you need comprehensive analysis of complex topics, perplexity_research provides deep insights with extensive citations. For logical problem-solving and analytical tasks, perplexity_reason offers structured thinking capabilities. And when you need programmatic access to web search with structured results, perplexity_search delivers ranked results with full metadata.

Each tool accepts messages in a conversational format, allowing you to provide context and follow-up questions naturally. The server handles citation management automatically, so you always have access to sources for verification and further reading.

Best Practices

When using the Perplexity MCP Server, consider these recommendations for optimal results:

Use perplexity_ask for general queries and conversational interactions
Reserve perplexity_research for complex topics requiring thorough investigation
Apply perplexity_reason when you need logical analysis or problem-solving
Leverage perplexity_search for structured data collection and programmatic search
Utilize resource templates to build features like history tracking and source management
Provide clear, specific queries for better results
Use the country parameter in searches when regional relevance matters
Adjust max_results and max_tokens_per_page based on your performance and detail requirements