--- name: Perplexity slug: perplexity category: AI Engineering description: Perplexity asks web-grounded questions with citations, runs and polls deep research jobs, lists available models, and searches the web. Use it for current answers or ranked search results. github: "https://github.com/zapier/connectors/tree/main/apps/perplexity" language: TypeScript stars: 164 forks: 14 install: "npx degit https://github.com/zapier/connectors/tree/main/apps/perplexity ~/.claude/skills/perplexity" installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/perplexity source_path: apps/perplexity/SKILL.md collection_size: 25 category_size: 3670 collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/zapier/connectors" added: 2026-09-08T05:35:30.342Z last_synced: 2026-09-08T05:35:30.342Z canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/perplexity" --- # Perplexity Perplexity asks web-grounded questions with citations, runs and polls deep research jobs, lists available models, and searches the web. Use it for current answers or ranked search results. **Install:** ```bash npx degit https://github.com/zapier/connectors/tree/main/apps/perplexity ~/.claude/skills/perplexity ``` ## README # Perplexity Agent-callable tools for Perplexity: ask a question and get a current, web-grounded answer with citations, poll a long-running research job, discover the available models, and run a ranked web search. Wraps the Perplexity Agent API and Search API (`https://api.perplexity.ai`). _Independent, unofficial connector for Perplexity. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Perplexity. "Perplexity" is a trademark of its owner, used only to identify the service this connector works with._ ## When to use this - Answer a question with up-to-date, cited information gathered from the web. - Run deep research as a background job and poll for the result when it's ready. - Discover which models (including deep-research) are available to use. - Get ranked web search results — titles, URLs, and snippets — for a query. ## Setup This is an [agentskills.io](https://agentskills.io) skill. If the connector has not been installed as a skill yet, install it first with `npx skills add zapier/connectors --skill perplexity` (or your harness's own skill-install mechanism), then continue here. Installing the skill copies these files, not dependencies. Before running the CLI, a local MCP server, or `zapier-sdk` auth commands, run `npm install --omit=dev` here once. Importing the published package as a dependency in your own project instead? That `npm install` already resolves everything — see [`references/use-as-sdk.md`](references/use-as-sdk.md). Want the actual repo source instead — to browse `references/`, run this connector's tests, or hack on it? See [`README.md`](README.md#cloning-the-source) for a scoped `git clone`. The connector runs on **Node.js 22.18+**. Pick the reference that matches how you're running it, and load it before doing anything else: | You have... | Load | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | An MCP-aware client — tools may already be loaded (e.g. `mcp__perplexity__`), or you can register a local server yourself (or guide the user to) | [`references/use-as-mcp.md`](references/use-as-mcp.md) | | Terminal / subprocess access (you can run `node`) | [`references/use-as-cli.md`](references/use-as-cli.md) | | Only your own code, importing this package as a dependency | [`references/use-as-sdk.md`](references/use-as-sdk.md) | | No tool access, no terminal, no ability to import this package — you write your own code that calls the Perplexity API directly (e.g. a code-execution sandbox) | [`references/use-as-recipe.md`](references/use-as-recipe.md) | ## Scripts All scripts share a single `perplexity` connection — one Perplexity API key. | Script | Script name | Connections | Description | | ----------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `scripts/createAgent.ts` | `createAgent` | `perplexity` | Ask a question and get a web-grounded, cited answer. Enable web search, pick a model or preset, request structured output, or run long jobs in the background. | | `scripts/getAgentResponse.ts` | `getAgentResponse` | `perplexity` | Retrieve or poll an agent response by id — poll a background / deep-research run until it completes. | | `scripts/listModels.ts` | `listModels` | `perplexity` | List the model ids usable with `createAgent`, including deep-research models. | | `scripts/search.ts` | `search` | `perplexity` | Search the web and get ranked results with titles, URLs, and snippets. | ## Disambiguation & refusals **Unsupported requests — decline, don't fake.** This connector answers questions and searches the web; it does **not** generate images, produce text embeddings, stream partial output, or run the Agent API's other tools (people or finance search, URL fetching, code sandbox). If a user asks for one of these, say plainly that it isn't supported and stop — never substitute a different tool and report success for an action you didn't perform. ## Auth Every shape passes auth as one connection **selector**, not the secret — a `[:]` string. Every connector accepts `zapier:` (Zapier-managed auth — routes through Zapier's auth, retries, and governance layer); some also accept one or more direct-token resolvers (naming and count vary per connector) — check this connector's own resolvers rather than assuming. The `:` prefix is optional; a bare value goes to the first resolver that claims it — a UUID-shaped bare value always claims `zapier:`. Each script declares the connections it needs and the resolvers each accepts. The exact syntax for passing a connection (and how to see this connector's resolver list) differs by shape — see the reference you loaded above. Checking what's already configured first? Don't dump environment values to do it — `env` or `env | grep ` prints the value along with the name, leaking a live credential into the transcript if one is set. Check names only (`env | cut -d= -f1 | grep -i `) or test a known name directly (`[ -n "$VAR_NAME" ]`). No connection yet? Pick one — and follow the reference's own flow to obtain it; never just ask the user for a connection id or token as if they already have one memorized: | | Load | | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Pass the credential directly | [`references/use-without-zapier.md`](references/use-without-zapier.md) | | Route it through a Zapier connection | [`references/use-with-zapier.md`](references/use-with-zapier.md) | ## Output format Every script returns a `{ data, meta }` envelope: - **`data`** — the script's result (the shape its `outputSchema` declares; see the reference you loaded above for how to inspect a script's exact schema in your shape). - **`meta.outputDataValidation`** — what validating `data` did: - `{ skipped: false, droppedPaths: null }` — validated, nothing removed. - `{ skipped: false, droppedPaths: [...], instruction }` — validated, but those paths were stripped from `data`: fields the script returned from the API that the `outputSchema` doesn't declare. If you need them, re-run with output validation skipped. - `{ skipped: true }` — validation was bypassed; `data` is the raw, unchecked script output. **Reading dropped fields / `skipOutputDataValidation`.** To receive the raw, unvalidated result, opt out of output validation (the exact syntax differs by shape — see the reference you loaded above). Input validation is never skipped. **Trimming the result / `filterOutputData`.** To shrink a large result down to the fields you need, pass a jq expression that post-processes `data` (again, exact syntax per shape). The jq runs against `data` only, NOT the `{ data, meta }` envelope, so write it rooted at `data` (run the script's `--help` — or your shape's equivalent — to see its output schema). The transformed value replaces `data`, `meta` is preserved, and the result is NOT re-validated against the output schema. ## References Load the matching reference file before working in that area: | Reference | Covers | Load it when | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`references/perplexity-api-gotchas.md`](references/perplexity-api-gotchas.md) | Auth & API keys, error status codes (401/400/429), rate limits & usage tiers, `provider/model` ids, the Agent request shape (input, model vs preset, web search as a tool, reasoning effort), background runs and terminal statuses, structured-output schema constraints and the first-request schema-prep delay, Search API multi-query/date-filter/`max_results` rules, and grounding/citations. | Before calling any tool — to get error handling, rate-limit backoff, date-filter formats, model ids, background polling, or structured output right. |