---
title: "Perplexity (Provider)"
summary: "Perplexity web search provider setup (API key, search modes, filtering)"
read_when:
  - You want to configure Perplexity as a web search provider
  - You need the Perplexity API key or OpenRouter proxy setup
---

# Perplexity (Web Search Provider)

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

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

- 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`

## Quick start

1. Set the API key:

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

Or set it directly:

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

2. The agent will automatically use Perplexity for web searches when configured.

## Search modes

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

| 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

When using the native Perplexity API (`pplx-` key), searches support:

- **Country**: 2-letter country code
- **Language**: ISO 639-1 language code
- **Date range**: day, week, month, year
- **Domain filters**: allowlist/denylist (max 20 domains)
- **Content budget**: `max_tokens`, `max_tokens_per_page`

## Environment note

If the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure
`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` is available to that process (for example, in
`~/.openclaw/.env` or via `env.shellEnv`).