Perplexity Deep Research MCP server

This MCP server integrates Perplexity AI's web search capabilities with AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol. It enables AI assistants to perform web searches using Perplexity's sonar-deep-research model, returning search results with proper citations.

Installation

You can easily install the Perplexity Deep Research MCP server using Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @arjunkmrm/perplexity-deep-research --client claude

This command automatically installs and configures the server for use with Claude Desktop.

Configuration

Setting Up Environment Variables

Before using the server, you need to configure your Perplexity API key:

1. Obtain an API key from Perplexity AI
2. Set the environment variable:

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Using the Deep Research Tool

The server provides a deep_research tool that can be used by AI assistants to perform web searches.

Parameters

• query (required): The search query you want to perform
• search_recency_filter (optional): Filter results by recency
  • Available options: month, week, day, hour

Example Usage

When your AI assistant needs to search for information, it can use the deep_research tool like this:

{
  "query": "latest developments in quantum computing",
  "search_recency_filter": "week"
}

Response Format

The tool returns responses that include:

• Detailed content from search results
• Citations for all information provided

This allows the AI assistant to provide you with up-to-date information from the web along with sources for verification.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "perplexity-deep-research" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@arjunkmrm/perplexity-deep-research"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "perplexity-deep-research": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@arjunkmrm/perplexity-deep-research"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "perplexity-deep-research": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@arjunkmrm/perplexity-deep-research"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect