Perplexity Tools

Use ONLY when user says “search”, “find”, “look up”, “ask”, “research”, or “what’s the latest” for generic queries. NOT for library/framework docs (use Context7), gt CLI (use Graphite MCP), or workspace questions (use Nx MCP).

Quick Reference

Which Perplexity tool?

• Need search results/URLs? → Perplexity Search
• Need conversational answer? → Perplexity Ask
• Need deep research? → Researcher agent (/research <topic>)

NOT Perplexity – use these instead:

• Library/framework docs → Context7 MCP
• Graphite gt CLI → Graphite MCP
• THIS workspace → Nx MCP
• Specific URL → URL Crawler

Perplexity Search

When to use:

• Generic searches, finding resources
• Current best practices, recent information
• Tutorial/blog post discovery
• User says “search for…”, “find…”, “look up…”

Default parameters (ALWAYS USE):

mcp__perplexity__perplexity_search({
  query: "your search query",
  max_results: 3,           // Default is 10 - too many!
  max_tokens_per_page: 512  // Reduce per-result content
})

When to increase limits: Only if:

• User explicitly needs comprehensive results
• Initial search found nothing useful
• Complex topic needs multiple sources

// Increased limits (use sparingly)
mcp__perplexity__perplexity_search({
  query: "complex topic",
  max_results: 5,
  max_tokens_per_page: 1024
})

Perplexity Ask

When to use:

• Need conversational explanation, not search results
• Synthesize information from web
• Explain concepts with current context

Usage:

mcp__perplexity__perplexity_ask({
  messages: [
    {
      role: "user",
      content: "Explain how postgres advisory locks work"
    }
  ]
})

NOT for:

• Library documentation (use Context7)
• Deep multi-source research (use researcher agent)

Prohibited Tool

NEVER use: mcp__perplexity__perplexity_research

Use instead: Researcher agent (/research <topic>)

• Token cost: 30-50k tokens
• Provides multi-source synthesis with citations
• Use sparingly for complex questions only

Tool Selection Chain

Priority order:

1. Context7 MCP – Library/framework docs
2. Graphite MCP – Any gt CLI mention
3. Nx MCP – THIS workspace questions
4. Perplexity Search – Generic searches
5. Perplexity Ask – Conversational answers
6. Researcher agent – Deep multi-source research
7. WebSearch – Last resort (after Perplexity exhausted)

Examples

✅ CORRECT – Use Perplexity Search:

• “Find postgres migration best practices”
• “Search for React testing tutorials”
• “Look up latest trends in microservices”

✅ CORRECT – Use Perplexity Ask:

• “Explain how postgres advisory locks work”
• “What are the trade-offs of microservices?”

❌ WRONG – Use Context7 instead:

• “Search for React hooks documentation” → Context7 MCP
• “Find Next.js routing docs” → Context7 MCP
• “Look up Temporal workflow API” → Context7 MCP

❌ WRONG – Use Graphite MCP instead:

• “Search for gt stack commands” → Graphite MCP
• “Find gt branch workflow” → Graphite MCP

❌ WRONG – Use Nx MCP instead:

• “Search for build config” (in THIS workspace) → Nx MCP
• “Find project dependencies” (in THIS workspace) → Nx MCP

Key Points

• Default to limited results – avoid context bloat
• Library docs = Context7 – ALWAYS try Context7 first
• “gt” = Graphite MCP – ANY “gt” mention uses Graphite
• Deep research = /research – NOT perplexity_research tool
• Fallback chain – Search → Ask → WebSearch (last resort)