# Perplexity MCP Server

> Perplexity's official MCP server for real-time web search, reasoning and research through its API.

## Facts
- **Category:** [MCP Servers](https://agentsearchengine.app/category/mcp-servers)
- **Type:** MCP server
- **Pricing:** Open source
- **GitHub stars:** 2,539
- **Language:** TypeScript
- **License:** MIT
- **Last repo activity:** 27 days ago (Aug 27, 2026)
- **Official site:** https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server
- **Source code:** https://github.com/perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol
- **Listing on Agent Search Engine:** https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/perplexity-mcp-server
- **Data verified:** September 2026

## Best for
Adding cited, up-to-date web research to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or VS Code.

## Avoid if
You don't have a Perplexity API key; both the remote and local servers need one.

## About Perplexity MCP Server
Perplexity's official MCP server gives AI assistants real-time web search, reasoning and research through the Perplexity Agent API and Search API. A hosted remote server needs nothing installed; a local server runs from npm, and a self-hosted HTTP mode and corporate proxy settings are documented.

## Connect to an MCP client
Launch command from the project's README: `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=<your-api-key> npx -y @perplexity-ai/mcp-server`

### Claude Code (Run in your terminal)

```shell
claude mcp add perplexity-mcp-server -e 'PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=<your-api-key>' -- npx -y @perplexity-ai/mcp-server
```

### Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json or .cursor/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "perplexity-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex (~/.codex/config.toml)

```toml
[mcp_servers.perplexity-mcp-server]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"]
env = { PERPLEXITY_API_KEY = "<your-api-key>" }
```

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- [MCP for Blender (blender-mcp)](https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/blender-mcp) — Connect Blender to Claude or any LLM client for prompt-driven 3D modelling and scene editing. · Open source · MCP server · 29k★ · Python · MIT · active 2 days ago
- [fastmcp](https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/fastmcp) — The fast, Pythonic way to build MCP servers and clients. · Open source · SDK / library · 28k★ · Python · Apache-2.0 · active today

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