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Perplexity Search API and Sonar/OpenRouter Compatibility

This page explains how to configure Perplexity Search as a web_search provider in OpenClaw. It covers both the structured Search API and legacy Sonar/OpenRouter setups for developers integrating web search.

Read this when

  • You want to use Perplexity Search for web search
  • You need PERPLEXITY_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY setup

OpenClaw supports the Perplexity Search API as a web_search provider. It returns structured results with title, url, and snippet fields.

For compatibility, OpenClaw also supports legacy Perplexity Sonar/OpenRouter setups. If you use OPENROUTER_API_KEY, an sk-or-... key in plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey, or set plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.baseUrl / model, the provider switches to the chat-completions path and returns AI-synthesized answers with citations instead of structured Search API results.

Install plugin

Install the official plugin, then restart Gateway:

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/perplexity-plugin
openclaw gateway restart

Getting a Perplexity API key

  1. Create a Perplexity account at perplexity.ai/settings/api.
  2. Generate an API key in the dashboard.
  3. Store the key in config or set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY in the Gateway environment.

OpenRouter compatibility

If you were already using OpenRouter for Perplexity Sonar, keep provider: "perplexity" and set OPENROUTER_API_KEY in the Gateway environment, or store an sk-or-... key in plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey.

Optional compatibility controls:

  • plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.baseUrl
  • plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.model

Config examples

Native Perplexity Search API

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      perplexity: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "pplx-...",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "perplexity",
      },
    },
  },
}

OpenRouter / Sonar compatibility

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      perplexity: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "<openrouter-api-key>",
            baseUrl: "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
            model: "perplexity/sonar-pro",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "perplexity",
      },
    },
  },
}

Where to set the key

Via config: run openclaw configure --section web. It stores the key in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json under plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey. That field also accepts SecretRef objects.

Via environment: set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY in the Gateway process environment. For a gateway install, put it in ~/.openclaw/.env (or your service environment). See Env vars.

If provider: "perplexity" is configured and the Perplexity key SecretRef is unresolved with no env fallback, startup/reload fails fast.

Tool parameters

These parameters apply to the native Perplexity Search API path.

  • query (string, required), Search query.

  • count (number, default: 5), Number of results to return (1-10).

  • country (string), 2-letter ISO country code (e.g. US, DE).

  • language (string), ISO 639-1 language code (e.g. en, de, fr).

  • freshness (day' | 'week' | 'month' | 'year), Time filter - day is 24 hours.

  • date_after (string), Only results published after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

  • date_before (string), Only results published before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

  • domain_filter (string[]), Domain allowlist/denylist array (max 20).

  • max_tokens (number, default: 25000), Total content budget (max 1000000).

  • max_tokens_per_page (number, default: 2048), Per-page token limit.

For the legacy Sonar/OpenRouter compatibility path:

  • query, count, and freshness are accepted.
  • count is compatibility-only there; the response is still one synthesized answer with citations rather than an N-result list.
  • Search API-only filters (country, language, date_after, date_before, domain_filter, max_tokens, max_tokens_per_page) return explicit errors.

Examples:

// Country and language-specific search
await web_search({
  query: "renewable energy",
  country: "DE",
  language: "de",
});

// Recent results (past week)
await web_search({
  query: "AI news",
  freshness: "week",
});

// Date range search
await web_search({
  query: "AI developments",
  date_after: "2024-01-01",
  date_before: "2024-06-30",
});

// Domain filtering (allowlist)
await web_search({
  query: "climate research",
  domain_filter: ["nature.com", "science.org", ".edu"],
});

// Domain filtering (denylist - prefix with -)
await web_search({
  query: "product reviews",
  domain_filter: ["-reddit.com", "-pinterest.com"],
});

// More content extraction
await web_search({
  query: "detailed AI research",
  max_tokens: 50000,
  max_tokens_per_page: 4096,
});

Domain filter rules

  • Maximum 20 domains per filter.
  • Cannot mix allowlist and denylist entries in the same request.
  • Use a - prefix for denylist entries (e.g., ["-reddit.com"]).

Notes

  • Perplexity Search API returns structured web search results (title, url, snippet).
  • OpenRouter, or an explicit plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.baseUrl / model, switches Perplexity back to Sonar chat completions for compatibility.
  • Sonar/OpenRouter compatibility returns one synthesized answer with citations, not structured result rows.
  • Results are cached for 15 minutes by default (configurable via cacheTtlMinutes).