This MCP server implementation connects with the Perplexity AI API, providing advanced question answering capabilities through the standardized Model Context Protocol. It enables seamless access to Perplexity's powerful models for AI-assisted research and information retrieval.
npm install
.env
file in the root directory with your Perplexity API key:PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
npm start
The server exposes two main tools for interacting with Perplexity AI:
You can specify which Perplexity model to use:
sonar-reasoning
(default): Best for general questionssonar-pro
: Enhanced capabilities for professional use casessonar-deep-research
: Specialized for complex research queriesTo ask a question using a specific model:
Ask Perplexity using sonar-deep-research: What are the latest advancements in quantum computing?
To customize the system prompt and token count:
Search with Perplexity using sonar-pro with system prompt "You are a helpful research assistant" and max tokens 2000: Latest developments in renewable energy
Responses follow the MCP specification:
{
content: [
{
type: "text",
text: "Response content from Perplexity AI"
}
],
isError: false // or true if an error occurred
}
npm run build
In Windsurf, navigate to Settings and find the "AI Settings" or "Model Context Protocol" section
Add a new MCP server with these details:
index.js
filePERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
For your mcp_config.json
file:
"perplexity-ask": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP/dist/index.js"
],
"cwd": "/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP",
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
}
If you encounter issues:
.env
fileTo add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "perplexity-ask" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP/dist/index.js"],"cwd":"/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP","env":{"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY":"pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}}'
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-ask": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP/dist/index.js"
],
"cwd": "/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP",
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
}
}
}
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-ask": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP/dist/index.js"
],
"cwd": "/path/to/perplexity-insight-MCP",
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
}
}
}
3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect