Perplexity Ask

What is Perplexity Ask about?

Perplexity Ask provides an MCP server that bridges Claude, Cursor, and any MCP‑enabled client to the Perplexity Sonar API, allowing live, web‑wide research directly from the AI assistant.

How to use Perplexity Ask?

1. Clone and install

   git clone git@github.com:ppl-ai/modelcontextprotocol.git
   cd modelcontextprotocol/perplexity-ask && npm install
   

2. Obtain a Sonar (Perplexity) API key and set it as PERPLEXITY_API_KEY in your environment.
3. Run the server – the recommended approach is via NPX:

   npx -y server-perplexity-ask
   

   or use the provided Docker image:

   docker build -t mcp/perplexity-ask:latest -f Dockerfile .
   docker run -i --rm -e PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=$PERPLEXITY_API_KEY mcp/perplexity-ask
   

4. Configure the client (e.g., Claude Desktop) by adding the MCP server entry to claude_desktop_config.json as shown in the README.

Key Features

• Live web searches via the Sonar API, returning up‑to‑date information.
• Exposes a single tool perplexity_ask that accepts an array of messages with role and content fields.
• Simple NPX execution eliminates the need for manual Docker handling.
• Docker image available for isolated deployment.
• Search parameters can be customized directly in index.ts.
• Compatible with Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any MCP‑supporting application.

Use Cases

• Research assistance: Augment AI assistants with current web data for fact‑checking and knowledge gathering.
• Content generation: Provide up‑to‑date references when drafting articles, reports, or code documentation.
• Developer tooling: Integrate real‑time search into IDEs or development environments via MCP.
• Customer support: Equip bots with the ability to pull the latest information from the web.

FAQ

• What API key is required? A Sonar (Perplexity) API key set as PERPLEXITY_API_KEY.
• Do I need Docker? Docker is optional; the NPX command (npx -y server-perplexity-ask) is the preferred method.
• Can I change search parameters? Yes, edit the API call in index.ts according to the Perplexity API documentation.
• Where to report bugs? Open an issue on the GitHub repository or email api@perplexity.ai.

Perplexity Ask MCP Server

An MCP server implementation that integrates the Sonar API to provide Claude with unparalleled real-time, web-wide research.

Please refer to the official DeepWiki page for assistance with implementation.

High-level System Architecture

Credits: DeepWiki powered by Devin

Tools

• perplexity_ask
  • Engage in a conversation with the Sonar API for live web searches.
  • Inputs:
    • messages (array): An array of conversation messages.
      • Each message must include:
        • role (string): The role of the message (e.g., system, user, assistant).
        • content (string): The content of the message.

Configuration

Step 1:

Clone this repository:

git clone git@github.com:ppl-ai/modelcontextprotocol.git

Navigate to the perplexity-ask directory and install the necessary dependencies:

cd modelcontextprotocol/perplexity-ask && npm install

Step 2: Get a Sonar API Key

1. Sign up for a Sonar API account.
2. Follow the account setup instructions and generate your API key from the developer dashboard.
3. Set the API key in your environment as PERPLEXITY_API_KEY.

Step 3: Configure Claude Desktop

1. Download Claude desktop here.

2. Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-ask": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY",
        "mcp/perplexity-ask"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

NPX

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-ask": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "server-perplexity-ask"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can access the file using:

vim ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Step 4: Build the Docker Image

Docker build:

docker build -t mcp/perplexity-ask:latest -f Dockerfile .

Step 5: Testing

Let's make sure Claude for Desktop is picking up the two tools we've exposed in our perplexity-ask server. You can do this by looking for the hammer icon:

After clicking on the hammer icon, you should see the tools that come with the Filesystem MCP Server:

If you see both of these this means that the integration is active. Congratulations! This means Claude can now ask Perplexity. You can then simply use it as you would use the Perplexity web app.

Step 6: Advanced parameters

Currently, the search parameters used are the default ones. You can modify any search parameter in the API call directly in the index.ts script. For this, please refer to the official API documentation.

Troubleshooting

The Claude documentation provides an excellent troubleshooting guide you can refer to. However, you can still reach out to us at api@perplexity.ai for any additional support or file a bug.

Cursor integration

You can also use our MCP with Cursor (or any other app that supports this). To use Sonar with Cursor, you can follow the following steps.

Step 1: Navigate to your Cursor settings:

Step 2: Navigate to the MCP directory

And click on Add new global MCP server

Step 3: Insert the MCP Server Configuration from above

This is the same configuration you would use for any other application that supports MCP.

You should then see the application being part of your available tools like this:

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.