dvcrn Perplexity Search
Use this skill to search the web via the Perplexity Sonar API. It returns accurate, cited, real-time answers grounded in current web sources.
When to use this skill
Invoke this skill automatically when the user asks about:
- Current events, recent news, or anything that may have changed recently
- Product releases, software versions, or API documentation
- Research questions that benefit from citations and web sources
- Comparisons, pricing, or availability that requires live data
- Any question where freshness or sourcing matters
Trigger phrases: "search for", "look up", "find out", "what's the latest", "current", "recent", "news about", "web search", "perplexity search"
Setup
Set your Perplexity API key in the environment before starting OpenClaw:
# Add to ~/.openclaw/.env
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-your-key-here
Get a key at https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api
Command
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "<the user's question>"
Optional flags
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--model sonar |
sonar | Fast, general-purpose search |
--model sonar-pro |
— | Higher quality synthesis (costs more) |
--model sonar-reasoning |
— | Step-by-step reasoning |
--domains example.com |
— | Comma-separated domain allowlist |
--max-results 8 |
8 | Cap displayed search results |
--temperature 0.2 |
0.2 | Lower = more factual |
--json |
— | Print raw JSON response |
Usage examples
# General search
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "latest AI agent frameworks 2025"
# Higher quality synthesis
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "compare Perplexity vs Tavily search APIs" --model sonar-pro
# Restrict to a specific site
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "PostgreSQL 17 release notes" --domains postgresql.org
# Reasoning mode for complex topics
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "why did SVB fail" --model sonar-reasoning
Output
The script prints a structured markdown report with:
- Answer — concise, web-grounded response
- Citations — numbered source URLs
- Search Results — titles, URLs, and snippets
- Related Questions — follow-up ideas
- Usage — token and cost metadata
Agent workflow
- Identify the user's search intent from their message.
- Extract a clean, specific query (avoid filler words).
- Choose
sonarfor speed,sonar-profor depth. - Run the command with
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/perplexity_search.py --query "...". - Present the Answer and Citations to the user in a readable format.
- Offer related questions as follow-up options.
Security notes
- The script reads
PERPLEXITY_API_KEYfrom the environment only — never from arguments. - The API key is never logged or printed.
- All external calls go only to
https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions. - No local files are written.
SECURITY MANIFEST
- Environment variables accessed: PERPLEXITY_API_KEY (only)
- External endpoints called: https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions (only)
- Local files read: none
- Local files written: none