The MCP-researcher Server is a powerful research assistant that integrates with Cline and Claude Desktop. It leverages Perplexity AI to provide intelligent search capabilities, documentation retrieval, API discovery, and code modernization assistance while you code, maintaining conversation context for a seamless experience.
Clone the repository:
git clone [repository-url]
cd mcp-researcher
Install dependencies and build the server:
npm install
npm run build
Get a Perplexity API key from Perplexity AI Settings
Create the MCP settings file based on your operating system:
To use with Claude Desktop, add the server configuration to the appropriate Claude settings file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["path/to/researcher-mcp/build/index.js"],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-...",
"PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar-reasoning"
},
"disabled": false,
"alwaysAllow": [],
"autoApprove": [
"search",
"get_documentation",
"find_apis",
"check_deprecated_code",
"get_request_status"
]
}
}
}
To use with Cline, add the same configuration to your Cline settings file in the mcpServers
section.
Performs general search queries to get comprehensive information on any topic. You can specify different detail levels:
Retrieves documentation and usage examples for specific technologies, libraries, or APIs. For example, you can get comprehensive documentation for React hooks, including best practices and common pitfalls.
Discovers and evaluates APIs that could be integrated into your project. This tool provides detailed analysis of features, pricing, and integration complexity for potential API solutions.
Analyzes code for deprecated features or patterns and provides migration guidance. This is particularly useful for identifying outdated patterns like React class components and suggesting modern alternatives.
You can adjust the Perplexity model used by changing the PERPLEXITY_MODEL
environment variable. The default is "sonar-reasoning"
, but other models are available.
Make sure to replace "pplx-..."
with your actual Perplexity API key and update the path in args
to point to the correct location of the built server.
To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "perplexity-server" '{"command":"node","args":["[path/to/researcher-mcp/build/index.js]"],"env":{"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY":"pplx-...","PERPLEXITY_MODEL":"sonar-reasoning"},"disabled":false,"alwaysAllow":[],"autoApprove":["search","get_documentation","find_apis","check_deprecated_code","get_request_status"]}'
See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.
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.
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-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"[path/to/researcher-mcp/build/index.js]"
],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-...",
"PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar-reasoning"
},
"disabled": false,
"alwaysAllow": [],
"autoApprove": [
"search",
"get_documentation",
"find_apis",
"check_deprecated_code",
"get_request_status"
]
}
}
}
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.
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.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
2. Add this to your configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity-server": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"[path/to/researcher-mcp/build/index.js]"
],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-...",
"PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar-reasoning"
},
"disabled": false,
"alwaysAllow": [],
"autoApprove": [
"search",
"get_documentation",
"find_apis",
"check_deprecated_code",
"get_request_status"
]
}
}
}
3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect