Perplexity Researcher MCP server for AI agents

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.

Installation

Prerequisites

Node.js (download from nodejs.org)

Setup Steps

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:

Integration with Claude Desktop

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"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Integration with Cline

To use with Cline, add the same configuration to your Cline settings file in the mcpServers section.

Available Tools

Search

Performs general search queries to get comprehensive information on any topic. You can specify different detail levels:

Brief
Normal
Detailed

Get Documentation

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.

Find APIs

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.

Check Deprecated Code

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 This is particularly useful for identifying outdated patterns like React class components and suggesting modern alternatives.

Customizing Configuration

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.

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-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.

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-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"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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-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