Perplexity is a Search MCP server that lets Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf and any MCP-compatible AI agent aI-powered search with citations. Install in 1 minute with mcpizy install perplexity.
Connect your Perplexity account once — MCPizy stores the credentials encrypted and uses them whenever you run a recipe in managed mode.
mcpizy install perplexitynpx -y perplexity-mcpask_perplexityAsk Perplexity a question and get a cited answer
Inputs
querystringrequiredmodelstringoptionalsearch_perplexityPerform a Perplexity web search
Inputs
querystringrequiredWorks identically across clients. Only the config file path differs.
~/.claude.json{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"server-perplexity-ask"
],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-..."
}
}
}
}.cursor/mcp.json{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"server-perplexity-ask"
],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-..."
}
}
}
}~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"server-perplexity-ask"
],
"env": {
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "pplx-..."
}
}
}
}Create an API key on the Perplexity API page
PERPLEXITY_API_KEYPaste any of these prompts into Claude Code, Cursor or another MCP-compatible client.
“What did OpenAI announce at their latest DevDay? Give me cited sources.”
Uses: ask_perplexity
“Research the best vector databases for RAG in 2026”
Uses: ask_perplexity
“Search for recent news about Apple's M4 chip”
Uses: search_perplexity
Google Search API for structured results
Privacy-first web search engine
Full-text and semantic search engine. Lightning fast, typo-tolerant search with filtering and faceting.
Search the web using Kagi's premium, ad-free search API. High-quality results without tracking.
If Perplexity doesn't fit your stack, these Search MCP servers solve similar problems.
The Perplexity MCP server is an Search Model Context Protocol server that lets Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code with Copilot, and other MCP-compatible AI agents aI-powered search with citations. It exposes Perplexity's capabilities as tools the AI can call directly from your editor or CLI.
The fastest way is the MCPizy CLI: run `mcpizy install perplexity` and MCPizy will add the server to your `.claude.json` automatically. You can also install it manually by adding an entry under `mcpServers` in `.claude.json` with the command `npx -y perplexity-mcp` and restarting Claude Code.
Yes. The Perplexity MCP server is free and open source. You may still need a Perplexity account or API key to connect the server to the underlying service, but the MCP layer itself has no MCPizy subscription cost.
Yes. Any MCP-compatible client works — including Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor (via `.cursor/mcp.json`), Windsurf, VS Code with Copilot Chat, and custom agents built on the MCP SDK. The same install command targets all of them; only the config file path differs.
Once installed, your AI agent can aI-powered search with citations directly inside your conversation. Typical use cases include asking Claude Code or Cursor to run Perplexity operations, inspect results, chain Perplexity with other MCP servers (see our Workflow Recipes), and automate repetitive search tasks without leaving your editor.