Perplexity Search Tool

The Perplexity Search step lets your agent run intelligent, real-time web searches powered by Perplexity's knowledge engine. Use it to search across the open web (or a specific set of domains), extract key insights, and feed those results into downstream steps for informed decision-making or content generation.

You control how many results come back, which countries and domains to focus on, and how deeply each page is analyzed.

Steps to Use the Perplexity Search Tool

Step 1: Access the Tool

• Click on Add User Step.
• From the available options, select the Perplexity Search Tool.

Step 2: Configure the Required Inputs

Parameter	Type	Description
search_query	string	The search query or question to execute. Example: latest trends in insurance AI.
number_of_results	integer	The maximum number of search results to return. Example: 5. Maximum allowed: 100.

You can type values directly, or use a user input variable with the {{variable_name}} syntax to provide them dynamically. For example, if there is an input parameter named searchTopic, reference it as {{searchTopic}}.

Step 3: Configure the Optional Inputs

Parameter	Type	Description
search_domain_filter	array[string]	A list of domains or URLs to limit the search results to. Maximum of 20 domains. Example: ["techcrunch.com", "forbes.com"].
max_tokens_per_page	integer	Controls the maximum number of tokens retrieved from each webpage during processing. Higher values provide more comprehensive content extraction but may increase processing time.
country	string	Country code to filter search results by geographic location (e.g., US, GB, DE).

Step 4: Configure Guardrails Validators (Optional)

You can set up guardrails validators to ensure the search results meet certain criteria, such as filtering out low-quality results or enforcing relevance rules.

Step 5: Run the Step

1. Run the tool: Click the Run button to execute the search.
2. Results: The step queries Perplexity and returns structured results based on your inputs.

Step 6: Use the Results

Reference the output in later steps (for example, in an LLM Call or Tool Output) for summarization, analysis, or content generation.

Tips for Effective Use

• Be specific: Clear, focused queries return the most relevant results.
• Scope with domains: Use search_domain_filter to restrict results to trusted sources (up to 20 domains).
• Localize: Set country when results should reflect a specific geographic market.
• Balance depth and speed: Raise max_tokens_per_page for richer extraction, lower it for faster runs.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact the helpdesk ([email protected]).