pplx-cli

A powerful CLI tool for the Perplexity AI API - search the web and chat with AI from your terminal.

Features

- 🔍 Web Search - Search the web with advanced filtering options
- 💬 AI Chat - Chat with Perplexity's AI models with web-grounded responses
- 🌊 Streaming - Real-time streaming responses
- 📚 Citations - See sources for AI-generated responses
- 🎯 Multiple Models - Support for Sonar, Sonar Pro, and Reasoning models
- ⚙️ Easy Configuration - Simple API key management

Installation

``bash


Using npm

npm install -g pplx-cli

Using bun

bun install -g pplx-cli

Using yarn

yarn global add pplx-cli
`

Quick Start

1. Get your API key from Perplexity API Portal

2. Configure the CLI:
`bash
pplx config set-key pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
`

3. Start asking questions:
`bash
pplx ask "What are the latest developments in AI?"
`

Commands

$3

Manage your configuration.

`bash


Save your API key

pplx config set-key

Show current configuration

pplx config show

Clear configuration

pplx config clear
`

$3

Ask a single question to Perplexity AI.

`bash


Basic usage

pplx ask "What is the weather in Tokyo?"

Use a specific model

pplx ask "Explain quantum computing" --model sonar-pro

Stream the response in real-time

pplx ask "Latest tech news" --stream

Filter by recency

pplx ask "Breaking news" --recency hour

Filter by domain

pplx ask "Climate research" --domain nature.com --domain science.org

Output as JSON

pplx ask "Hello world" --json

Hide citations

pplx ask "Quick question" --no-citations

Custom system prompt

pplx ask "Summarize this topic" --system "You are a concise summarizer"
`

Options:
- -m, --model - Model to use (sonar, sonar-pro, sonar-reasoning, sonar-reasoning-pro)
- -s, --stream - Stream the response in real-time
- -j, --json - Output raw JSON response
- -c, --citations - Show source citations (default: true)
- --no-citations - Hide source citations
- -r, --recency - Filter by recency (hour, day, week, month, year)
- -d, --domain - Filter by domain(s)
- --system - Custom system prompt

$3

Search the web using Perplexity.

`bash


Basic search

pplx search "climate change research"

Academic search

pplx search "machine learning papers" --mode academic

Limit results

pplx search "tech news" --limit 5

Filter by recency

pplx search "breaking news" --recency day

Filter by domain

pplx search "AI news" --domain techcrunch.com

Output as JSON

pplx search "query" --json
`

Options:
- -l, --limit - Maximum number of results (default: 10)
- -m, --mode - Search mode (web, academic, sec)
- -r, --recency - Filter by recency (hour, day, week, month, year)
- -d, --domain - Filter by domain(s)
- -j, --json - Output raw JSON response

$3

Start an interactive chat session.

`bash


Start chat

pplx chat

Use a specific model

pplx chat --model sonar-pro

With custom system prompt

pplx chat --system "You are a helpful coding assistant"
`

In-chat commands:
- /clear - Clear conversation history
- /exit or /quit - Exit the chat
- /help - Show help

Options:
- -m, --model - Model to use
- --system - Custom system prompt
- -r, --recency - Filter by recency
- -d, --domain - Filter by domain(s)

Available Models

| Model | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| sonar | Fast, cost-effective model (default) |
| sonar-pro | Advanced model with better quality |
| sonar-reasoning | Model with reasoning capabilities |
| sonar-reasoning-pro | Advanced reasoning model |

Environment Variables

- PERPLEXITY_API_KEY - Your Perplexity API key (alternative to config file)

The config file takes precedence over the environment variable.

Configuration File

The configuration is stored at ~/.config/pplx-cli/config.json`.

License

MIT

Links

- Perplexity API Documentation
- GitHub Repository
- Report Issues