Add the Perplexity MCP server to Claude Desktop

Config last verified Jun 1, 2026

The exact config to run Perplexity in Claude Desktop — paste it in, restart, and the tools load.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed.
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY — Perplexity API key from the dashboard at perplexity.ai/account/api. Required.

Setup

1. Open `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

On Windows the file lives at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

2. Add this configuration

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "<PERPLEXITY_API_KEY>",
        "PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL": "<PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL>",
        "PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS": "<PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop and confirm the Perplexity tools load.

Gotchas

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from an "mcpServers" object, but the config file is stdio-only: it cannot dial a remote URL directly. To reach a remote server you bridge it locally by running "npx mcp-remote <url>" as the command. Native remote Connectors exist on paid plans, but not through this config file, so the bridge is the portable path.

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