Perplexity Search MCP Server

A Go implementation of a Perplexity Search MCP server that allows large language models (LLMs) to access the Perplexity search API through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Features

• perplexity_search: Perform web searches and return results, including citations
  • Parameters:
    • query (string, required): The search query
    • search_recency_filter (string, optional): Filter results by time (month, week, day, hour)
    • max_tokens (integer, optional): Maximum number of tokens to return
    • temperature (number, optional, default: 0.2): Controls randomness in response
    • top_p (number, optional, default: 0.9): Nucleus sampling threshold
    • search_domain_filter (array, optional): List of domains to limit search results
    • return_images (boolean, optional): Include image links in results
    • return_related_questions (boolean, optional): Include related questions
    • top_k (number, optional, default: 0): Number of tokens for top-k filtering
    • stream (boolean, optional): Stream response incrementally
    • presence_penalty (number, optional, default: 0): Adjust likelihood of new topics
    • frequency_penalty (number, optional, default: 1): Reduce repetition
    • web_search_options (object, optional): Configuration options for web search

Setup & Usage

Installing via Smithery

To install Perplexity Search Golang for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @chenxilol/perplexity-mcp-go --client claude

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23 or higher
• Perplexity API key

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/chenxilol/perplexity-mcp-go.git
cd perplexity-mcp-go

1. Build the application:

go build -o perplexity-search-mcp

Running Locally

1. Set your Perplexity API key:

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

1. Run the server:

./perplexity-search-mcp

Integrating with Claude

1. Copy the provided claude_desktop_config.json to your Claude configuration directory:

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

2. Edit the configuration file to include your API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-search": {
      "command": "/path/to/perplexity-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker Support

1. Build the Docker image:

docker build -t perplexity-search-mcp:latest .

1. Run the container:

docker run -i --rm -e PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your-api-key-here perplexity-search-mcp:latest

Example Usage

Once configured, Claude can use the perplexity_search tool via MCP to perform real-time web searches.

Example search with parameters:

{
  "query": "latest AI research developments",
  "search_recency_filter": "week",
  "temperature": 0.5,
  "return_related_questions": true,
  "web_search_options": {
    "search_context_size": "high"
  }
}

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

1. Verify your API key is correctly set
2. Check network connectivity
3. Examine stderr logs for error messages

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Model Context Protocol for the MCP specification
• MCP-Go for the Go MCP implementation
• Perplexity for their search API