Providers
Perplexity
The Perplexity plugin provides web search capabilities through the Perplexity Search API or Perplexity Sonar via OpenRouter.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Getting started
Set the API key
Run the interactive web-search configuration flow:
openclaw configure --section web
Or set the key directly:
openclaw config set plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey "pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
Start searching
The agent will automatically use Perplexity for web searches once the key is configured. No additional steps are required.
Search modes
The plugin auto-selects the transport based on API key prefix:
Native Perplexity API (pplx-)
When your key starts with pplx-, OpenClaw uses the native Perplexity Search
API. This transport returns structured results and supports domain, language,
and date filters (see filtering options below).
OpenRouter / Sonar (sk-or-)
When your key starts with sk-or-, OpenClaw routes through OpenRouter using
the Perplexity Sonar model. This transport returns AI-synthesized answers with
citations.
| 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, searches support the following filters:
| Filter | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Country | 2-letter country code | us, de, jp |
| Language | ISO 639-1 language code | en, fr, zh |
| Date range | Recency window | day, week, month, year |
| Domain filters | Allowlist or denylist (max 20 domains) | example.com |
| Content budget | Token limits per response / per page | max_tokens, max_tokens_per_page |
Advanced configuration
Environment variable for daemon processes
If the OpenClaw Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is available to that process.
OpenRouter proxy setup
If you prefer to route Perplexity searches through OpenRouter, set an
OPENROUTER_API_KEY (prefix sk-or-) instead of a native Perplexity key.
OpenClaw will detect the prefix and switch to the Sonar transport
automatically.