Ask a question

Ask a question

Answers a question from current web sources with inline citations, tuned for quick facts and short summaries.

perplexity_ask is backed by the Agent API's fast preset: on the API, send preset: "fast" with the question as input. For questions that chain evidence across many sources, use the medium or high preset instead.

Set up

Use the first option your agent supports.

MCP (official, remote)

Add this server to your agent's MCP settings, then sign in when asked.

{ "mcpServers": { "perplexity": { "url": "https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp" } } }

Call the MCP tool perplexity_ask.

Server URL: https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp

API (official)

• Base URL: https://api.perplexity.ai
• Endpoint: POST /v1/agent
• Auth: send the header Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY
• Get a key: https://console.perplexity.ai/project/keys
• Docs: https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/overview

Before doing anything else, make one read-only call to confirm access.

Rules

• Ask the user before anything that sends messages, costs money, or changes data.
• Never print API keys.