Perplexity

The Perplexity plugin provides web search capabilities through the Perplexity Search API or Perplexity Sonar via OpenRouter.

<Note> This page is the Perplexity **provider** setup. For the Perplexity **tool** (how the agent uses it), see [Perplexity tool](/tools/perplexity-search). </Note>

Property	Value
Type	Web search provider (not a model provider)
Auth	`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` (direct) or `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` (via OpenRouter)
Config path	`plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey`

Getting started

<Steps> <Step title="Set the API key"> Run the interactive web-search configuration flow:

```bash
openclaw configure --section web
```

Or set the key directly:

```bash
openclaw config set plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey "pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
```

</Step> <Step title="Start searching"> The agent will automatically use Perplexity for web searches once the key is configured. No additional steps are required. </Step> </Steps>

Search modes

The plugin auto-selects the transport based on API key prefix:

<Tabs> <Tab title="Native Perplexity API (pplx-)"> When your key starts with `pplx-`, OpenClaw uses the native Perplexity Search API. This transport returns structured results and supports domain, language, and date filters (see filtering options below). </Tab> <Tab title="OpenRouter / Sonar (sk-or-)"> When your key starts with `sk-or-`, OpenClaw routes through OpenRouter using the Perplexity Sonar model. This transport returns AI-synthesized answers with citations. </Tab> </Tabs>

Key prefix	Transport	Features
`pplx-`	Native Perplexity Search API	Structured results, domain/language/date filters
`sk-or-`	OpenRouter (Sonar)	AI-synthesized answers with citations

Native API filtering

<Note> Filtering options are only available when using the native Perplexity API (`pplx-` key). OpenRouter/Sonar searches do not support these parameters. </Note>

When using the native Perplexity API, searches support the following filters:

Filter	Description	Example
Country	2-letter country code	`us`, `de`, `jp`
Language	ISO 639-1 language code	`en`, `fr`, `zh`
Date range	Recency window	`day`, `week`, `month`, `year`
Domain filters	Allowlist or denylist (max 20 domains)	`example.com`
Content budget	Token limits per response / per page	`max_tokens`, `max_tokens_per_page`

Advanced configuration

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="Environment variable for daemon processes"> If the OpenClaw Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` is available to that process.

<Warning>
A key set only in `~/.profile` will not be visible to a launchd/systemd
daemon unless that environment is explicitly imported. Set the key in
`~/.openclaw/.env` or via `env.shellEnv` to ensure the gateway process can
read it.
</Warning>

</Accordion> <Accordion title="OpenRouter proxy setup"> If you prefer to route Perplexity searches through OpenRouter, set an `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` (prefix `sk-or-`) instead of a native Perplexity key. OpenClaw will detect the prefix and switch to the Sonar transport automatically.

<Tip>
The OpenRouter transport is useful if you already have an OpenRouter account
and want consolidated billing across multiple providers.
</Tip>

</Accordion> </AccordionGroup> <CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Perplexity search tool" href="/tools/perplexity-search" icon="magnifying-glass"> How the agent invokes Perplexity searches and interprets results. </Card> <Card title="Configuration reference" href="/gateway/configuration-reference" icon="gear"> Full configuration reference including plugin entries. </Card> </CardGroup>

Getting started

Search modes

Native API filtering

Advanced configuration

Related