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Overview

PerplexityLLMService provides access to Perplexity’s language models through an OpenAI-compatible interface. It inherits from OpenAILLMService and supports streaming responses and context management, with special handling for Perplexity’s incremental token reporting and built-in internet search capabilities.

Perplexity LLM API Reference

Pipecat’s API methods for Perplexity integration

Example Implementation

Complete example with search capabilities

Perplexity Documentation

Official Perplexity API documentation and features

Perplexity Platform

Access search-enhanced models and API keys

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Installation

To use Perplexity services, install the required dependencies: 
pip install "pipecat-ai[perplexity]"

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Prerequisites

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Perplexity Account Setup

Before using Perplexity LLM services, you need:
  1. Perplexity Account: Sign up at Perplexity
  2. API Key: Generate an API key from your account dashboard
  3. Model Selection: Choose from available models with built-in search capabilities

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Required Environment Variables

  • PERPLEXITY_API_KEY: Your Perplexity API key for authentication
Unlike other LLM services, Perplexity does not support function calling. Instead, they offer native internet search built in without requiring special function calls.

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Configuration

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api_key
str
required
Perplexity API key for authentication.
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base_url
str
default:"https://api.perplexity.ai"
Base URL for Perplexity API endpoint.
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model
str
default:"sonar"
Model identifier to use.

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InputParams

This service uses the same input parameters as OpenAILLMService. See OpenAI LLM for details.

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Usage

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Basic Setup

import os
from pipecat.services.perplexity import PerplexityLLMService

llm = PerplexityLLMService(
    api_key=os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY"),
    model="sonar",
)

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With Custom Parameters

from pipecat.services.perplexity import PerplexityLLMService

llm = PerplexityLLMService(
    api_key=os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY"),
    model="sonar",
    params=PerplexityLLMService.InputParams(
        temperature=0.7,
        top_p=0.9,
        max_tokens=1024,
    ),
)

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Notes

  • Perplexity does not support function calling or tools. The service only sends messages to the API, without tool definitions.
  • Perplexity uses incremental token reporting. The service accumulates token usage metrics during processing and reports the final totals at the end of each request.
  • Perplexity models have built-in internet search capabilities, providing up-to-date information without requiring additional tool configuration.