searchLABSCO SUMMARY
Free because it uses the website, and fragile for the same reason.
There is no API key because there is no API underneath — it automates Perplexity's own interface, so its stability tracks that site's markup rather than a versioned contract. That is a fair trade for personal research, and the developer-shaped tools (documentation lookup, API discovery, deprecation checks) are more useful in an editor than a generic search box. Just do not build anything load-bearing on it.
What it is
A research server that drives Perplexity's web interface rather than its API, which is why there is no key to obtain and no per-query cost. Conversation history is stored locally in SQLite, so a thread survives between calls.
What you get
search— research queries with configurable depth, returning raw text resultsget_documentation— technical documentation with examples, returned structuredfind_apis— discover APIs that fit a development need, with descriptionscheck_deprecated_code— analyse a snippet for outdated patterns and get a reportextract_url_content— clean article extraction, with GitHub repository URLs handled speciallychat_perplexity— a persistent conversation with its context history, returned as JSON
Requirements
The Bun runtime, and Node.js 18+ for the TypeScript build. Clone, bun install, bun run build, then point the client at bun /absolute/path/to/build/main.js with a timeout of 300. The package is perplexity-mcp-zerver and the licence is GNU GPL v3.0. A Perplexity Pro subscription is optional: bun run login opens a browser once and saves the session, with PERPLEXITY_BROWSER_DATA_DIR (default ~/.perplexity-mcp) and PERPLEXITY_PERSISTENT_PROFILE controlling the profile. Email login is the reliable path; SSO is documented as less so.
Setup effort
Build from source — git clone https://github.com/wysh3/perplexity-mcp-zerver.git
USE CASES
01
Researching without spending a query budget
Ask a research question at the depth you want and get results back, with no key and no metering.
02
Getting documentation for the library you just added
Request the docs with examples instead of a summary reconstructed from memory.
03
Checking whether code you inherited is stale
Hand over the snippet and get an analysis of which patterns are outdated.
04
Keeping a research thread alive
Continue an existing conversation with its history intact, stored locally in SQLite.
6 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
get_documentationfind_apischeck_deprecated_codeextract_url_contentchat_perplexityBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
6 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
- Bun runtime
- Node.js 18+ (for TypeScript compilation)
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
You clone and build this one yourself.
Server setup
From source
TERMINAL
git clone https://github.com/wysh3/perplexity-mcp-zerver.git
cd perplexity-mcp-zerver
bun install
bun run buildConfiguration file
JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"perplexity-server": {
"command": "bun",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_BUILD>/main.js"
],
"timeout": 300
}
}
}
