Perplexity MCP Server — Python Port

Python conversion of the official perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol Node.js/TypeScript server.

File mapping

TypeScript (original)	Python (this port)	Notes
src/types.ts	types.py	Dataclasses replace TS interfaces
src/validation.ts	validation.py	Pydantic models replace Zod schemas
src/logger.ts	logger.py	Direct translation
src/server.ts	server.py	Core MCP tools + API logic
src/index.ts	__main__.py	STDIO entry point
src/http.ts	http_server.py	HTTP entry point (FastAPI + uvicorn)

Dependencies

Node.js	Python
@modelcontextprotocol/sdk	mcp
axios / undici (fetch)	httpx
zod	pydantic
express + cors	fastapi + CORSMiddleware
Node.js built-ins	Python stdlib (asyncio, re, json, …)

Installation

pip install -e .

Usage

STDIO (for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code…)

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_key_here
python -m perplexity_mcp
# or after pip install:
perplexity-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor mcpServers config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "perplexity-mcp",
      "env": { "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

HTTP server

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_key_here
python -m perplexity_mcp.http_server
# or after pip install:
perplexity-mcp-http

The server listens on http://0.0.0.0:8080/mcp by default.

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Default
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY	Perplexity API key (required)	—
PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL	Custom API base URL	https://api.perplexity.ai
PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS	Request timeout in ms	300000
PERPLEXITY_PROXY	Proxy URL	—
HTTPS_PROXY / HTTP_PROXY	Fallback proxy env vars	—
PERPLEXITY_LOG_LEVEL	DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR	ERROR
PORT	HTTP server port	8080
BIND_ADDRESS	HTTP bind address	0.0.0.0
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	CORS origins (comma-separated)	*

Available tools

Tool	Model	Description
perplexity_ask	sonar-pro	Quick Q&A with web grounding
perplexity_research	sonar-deep-research	Deep multi-source research (30s+)
perplexity_reason	sonar-reasoning-pro	Step-by-step reasoning + web
perplexity_search	Search API	Raw ranked URL results