Perplexity Tool

This MCP server brings Perplexity AI’s web-based research capabilities into Claude Desktop, enabling you to perform live research and receive sourced answers directly through Claude with citations. It powers seamless, in-context lookups and helps you integrate up-to-date information into your workflows.

How to use

You can access the Perplexity Research tool from Claude Desktop by issuing natural language requests that ask for up-to-date information, with the tool handling the web search and returning results with citations. Use clear prompts like “Ask Perplexity about recent AI developments” or “Research the history of quantum computing with Perplexity.” You can also tailor searches with advanced options if your client supports them, such as limiting results to specific domains or time frames.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installation are Git and Node.js.

# Mac: Install Git via Homebrew then install Git
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install git

# Windows: Install Git using the installer from git-scm.com

# Mac: Install Node.js
brew install node

# Verify installations
git --version
node --version

Run the following steps to install and start the Perplexity tool locally.

git clone https://github.com/letsbuildagent/perplexity-tool
cd perplexity-tool
npm install

Set up your API key. You have two options.

# Option 1 - Quick setup (edit server.js directly)
# Open server.js and replace the key placeholder with your Perplexity API key
const PERPLEXITY_API_KEY = "YOUR-API-KEY-HERE";

# Option 2 - Best practice (use a .env file)
# Create a .env file and add your API key
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# Install dotenv to read environment variables
npm install dotenv

# Update server.js to load from .env
import 'dotenv/config'
const PERPLEXITY_API_KEY = process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY;

Additional sections

Configure Claude Desktop to know where to find the local server. Add a configuration entry so Claude can start the Perplexity tool as a local process.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity_tool": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/full/path/to/perplexity-tool/server.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the configuration so the tool becomes available in your MCP client.

Security and maintenance notes to keep in mind as you operate this tool.

- Do not commit your API key to public repositories. Prefer the .env approach when possible and add the .env file to your ignore list.
- Regularly rotate your API key and review access controls for your Claude Desktop environment.
- Monitor for unexpected prompts and verify that results include citations from Perplexity when possible.

Troubleshooting

If the Perplexity tool does not appear in Claude, verify the path you configured points to the correct server script and restart Claude Desktop. Check the console for any error messages and ensure Node.js is installed.