perplexity-web-mcp

A lightweight MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables AI assistants to perform searches on Perplexity.ai through browser automation. No official API key required.

Overview

perplexity-web-mcp bridges your AI assistant (Claude, Cursor, etc.) with Perplexity.ai by automating a real browser session via Playwright. It reads search results directly from the DOM — making it indistinguishable from a real user — and returns the answer text along with cited sources.

Key features

Login once, search forever — use the login tool to authenticate once; your session persists across restarts
Lazy browser launch — the browser only opens on the first tool call, not at server startup
Always visible browser — runs non-headless to bypass Cloudflare's bot detection (the window stays in the background during searches)
Sources included — returns cited URLs alongside the answer text
Zero API key — uses your existing Perplexity session (free or Pro)

Installation

Prerequisites:

Node.js >= 20
Chromium (via Playwright): npx playwright install chromium

npx playwright install chromium

That's it — no clone, no build required.

MCP configuration

Claude Code

claude mcp add perplexity-web -- npx perplexity-web-mcp@latest

Claude Desktop / other clients

Add to your MCP config (.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity-web": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["perplexity-web-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Optional flag: --timeout=N — max seconds to wait for an answer (default: 20).

To authenticate, ask your AI client to call the login tool once. A Chromium window will open for you to sign in. Your session is persisted in .playwright/profile/ and reused on future runs.

Why is a browser window visible? Perplexity.ai uses Cloudflare Turnstile which blocks headless browsers. The window stays in the background and requires no interaction during normal use.

MCP Tools

`login`

Checks if you are authenticated on Perplexity.ai. If not, opens a browser window so you can log in.

Parameters: none

Returns: A status message — either "Already authenticated" or "Login successful" after the user completes the login flow.

Your session is persisted in .playwright/profile/ — you only need to call login once, or after a session expiry.

`search`

Performs a search on Perplexity.ai using default settings and returns the answer with sources. Prefer this for general queries.

Parameters:

| Name | Type | Required | Description | |------|------|----------|-------------| | query | string | Yes | The search query |

Returns:

The capital of France is Paris...

Sources:
1. [Capital City of France - CountryReports](https://www.countryreports.org/...)

`search_advanced`

Same as search but lets you select which sources Perplexity searches. You can combine multiple sources. Uses browser UI automation to toggle the source checkboxes — more powerful but slightly less resilient to UI changes.

Parameters:

| Name | Type | Required | Description | |------|------|----------|-------------| | query | string | Yes | The search query | | sources | string[] | Yes | One or more sources: web, academic, social |

Example: sources: ["web", "academic"] searches both general web and scholarly articles simultaneously.

Returns: Same format as search.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  AI Client (Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Cursor / ...)        │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │  MCP stdio transport
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  perplexity-web-mcp  (FastMCP server)                           │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌─────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  CLI Arguments  │   │  MCP Tools                           │ │
│  │                 │   │                                      │ │
│  │  --timeout=N    │   │  login()                             │ │
│  │                 │   │    checks session, opens browser     │ │
│  │                 │   │    for login if not authenticated     │ │
│  │                 │   │                                      │ │
│  │                 │   │  search(query, mode?)                │ │
│  │                 │   │    returns: { answer, sources[] }    │ │
│  └────────┬────────┘   └──────────────┬───────────────────────┘ │
│           │                           │                         │
│           ▼                           ▼                         │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  Browser Manager (Playwright, always visible)              │ │
│  │                                                            │ │
│  │  (browser launches lazily on first tool call)              │ │
│  │                                                            │ │
│  │  login()                                                   │ │
│  │    ├── GET /api/auth/session                               │ │
│  │    │    ├── active ──► "already authenticated"             │ │
│  │    │    └── none   ──► open browser, wait for user login   │ │
│  │                                                            │ │
│  │  search(query)                                             │ │
│  │    ├── open new tab, navigate to perplexity.ai             │ │
│  │    ├── type query in search box                            │ │
│  │    ├── wait for answer to complete (DOM signal)            │ │
│  │    ├── extract answer text from DOM                        │ │
│  │    ├── extract cited sources                               │ │
│  │    └── close tab                                           │ │
│  │                                                            │ │
│  │  search_advanced(query, sources[])                         │ │
│  │    ├── open new tab, navigate to perplexity.ai             │ │
│  │    ├── open "+" menu → "Connecteurs et sources"            │ │
│  │    ├── toggle source checkboxes to match requested sources │ │
│  │    ├── type query, wait for answer, extract DOM            │ │
│  │    └── close tab                                           │ │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
              ┌──────────────────────┐
              │   perplexity.ai      │
              │  (real browser req)  │
              └──────────────────────┘

Development

# Run in development mode (hot reload)
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Lint
npm run lint

# Type check
npm run typecheck

Testing locally

See docs/testing.md for a full step-by-step guide covering:

First-time authentication flow
Persistent session verification
Integration with Claude Code / Claude Desktop

How it works

Lazy browser launch — the browser only opens when the first tool (login or search) is called, not at server startup.
Login — the login tool calls GET /api/auth/session to check the persisted session. If no session is found, a browser window opens and the server waits for the user to log in (up to 5 minutes).
Search — the search tool opens a new tab, navigates to perplexity.ai, types the query, and waits for Perplexity's answer to complete (detected via a DOM signal — the "N sources" button appearing).
Search Advanced — search_advanced does the same but first opens the source selector menu and toggles the requested sources (identified by their SVG icon IDs, which are locale-independent).
Extraction — the answer and sources are extracted from the DOM and returned as text to the MCP client. The tab is then closed.
Visible browser — the browser always runs non-headless to pass Cloudflare's Turnstile bot detection, which reliably blocks headless Chromium regardless of stealth patches.

Limitations

Depends on Perplexity.ai's DOM structure — may break if they update their UI
Rate limiting applies as per Perplexity's standard usage policies
A visible browser window is always present (required to bypass Cloudflare Turnstile)
Pro features (deeper research, Claude model) require an authenticated Pro account

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue before submitting large PRs.

Fork the repo
Create a branch: git checkout -b feat/my-feature
Commit your changes
Open a Pull Request

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

Disclaimer

This project automates a browser session for personal use. It is not affiliated with Perplexity AI, Inc. Use responsibly and in accordance with Perplexity's Terms of Service.

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