Perplexity Search API

Thin retrieval tool for live web search. The agent plans queries and interprets results; this skill handles raw retrieval only.

Endpoint: POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search Auth: Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY Pricing: $5.00 per 1K requests. No token-based charges.

When to Use

• Current docs, changelogs, release notes
• Vendor/library documentation lookup
• News and time-sensitive information
• Domain-constrained retrieval (e.g. only official docs sites)
• Date-filtered search (published/updated before or after a date)

When Not to Use

• Local codebase search (use Grep/finder)
• Stable docs already in context
• Page interaction or scraping (use browser tools)
• LLM-generated summaries (use Sonar API instead)

Request Schema

All fields except query are optional.

Field	Type	Default	Notes
query	string | string[]	—	Required. Up to 5 queries for batch.
max_results	integer	10	Range: 1–20
max_tokens	integer	10000	Total content budget across all results
max_tokens_per_page	integer	4096	Per-page content extraction limit
country	string	—	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (e.g. "US", "DE")
search_language_filter	string[]	—	ISO 639-1 codes, max 20 (e.g. ["en"])
search_domain_filter	string[]	—	Max 20. Prefix "-" to deny (see below)
search_recency_filter	string	—	"hour" "day" "week" "month" "year"
search_after_date_filter	string	—	MM/DD/YYYY — results published after
search_before_date_filter	string	—	MM/DD/YYYY — results published before
last_updated_after_filter	string	—	MM/DD/YYYY — results updated after
last_updated_before_filter	string	—	MM/DD/YYYY — results updated before

Domain Filter Rules

One array, two modes. Cannot mix allow and deny in the same request.

// Allowlist — only these domains
"search_domain_filter": ["docs.stripe.com", "stripe.com"]

// Denylist — exclude these domains (prefix with "-")
"search_domain_filter": ["-pinterest.com", "-reddit.com", "-quora.com"]

Response Schema

{
  id: string
  server_time: string | null
  results: Array<{
    title: string       // page title
    url: string         // page URL
    snippet: string     // extracted content
    date: string | null // publication date
    last_updated: string | null
  }>
}

There is no score field. Results are ranked by relevance — use list order as rank. For single queries, results is a flat list. For multi-query batch, results are grouped per query in submission order.

Query Strategy

1. Start narrow. One precise query beats a broad one.
2. Use domain filters before broadening query text. Constrain sources first.
3. Apply recency only when freshness matters. Suppresses good evergreen content.
4. Use low token budgets for quick lookups. max_tokens_per_page: 512 for headlines.
5. Batch only for parallel angles. Not for rephrasing the same question.
6. Prefer 3–5 results unless broad recall is needed.

Examples

Basic search

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "drizzle orm sqlite migration guide",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Domain-constrained with recency

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "breaking changes v5",
    "max_results": 5,
    "search_domain_filter": ["docs.stripe.com"],
    "search_recency_filter": "month"
  }'

Date-filtered search

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "vite 7 release",
    "max_results": 5,
    "search_after_date_filter": "01/01/2026"
  }'

Lightweight extraction

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments",
    "max_results": 3,
    "max_tokens": 3000,
    "max_tokens_per_page": 512
  }'

Multi-query batch

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": [
      "temporal workflow determinism typescript",
      "temporal activity heartbeat pattern"
    ],
    "max_results": 5,
    "search_domain_filter": ["docs.temporal.io"]
  }'

Denylist with language filter

curl -X POST https://api.perplexity.ai/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "react server components best practices",
    "max_results": 5,
    "search_domain_filter": ["-pinterest.com", "-w3schools.com"],
    "search_language_filter": ["en"]
  }'

Guardrails

• Date format is MM/DD/YYYY — not ISO 8601.
• Domain filter is one array — allow or deny, not both simultaneously.
• No score field — trust result order; do not threshold on numeric scores.
• max_tokens is content budget, not pricing — controls how much text is extracted, not cost.
• Batch limit is 5 queries per request.
• Deduplicate by URL when combining results from multiple searches.
• Cite sources — include URLs in any answer derived from search results.

Suggested Workflow

1. Decide if the task needs live web retrieval (current info, external docs).
2. Formulate 1–3 focused queries. Prefer domain filters over broad text.
3. Run search with appropriate max_results and token budgets.
4. Inspect top results — check URL relevance and snippet quality.
5. If results are thin, refine: adjust query, broaden domains, relax recency.
6. Synthesize answer from retained evidence. Cite URLs. Flag uncertainty when only one source supports a claim.