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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Perplexity Search API

OpenClaw supports 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.

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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.

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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

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Config examples

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Native Perplexity Search API

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

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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",
      },
    },
  },
}

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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.

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Tool parameters

These parameters apply to the native Perplexity Search API path.
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query
string
required
Search query.
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count
number
default:"5"
Number of results to return (1–10).
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country
string
2-letter ISO country code (e.g. US, DE).
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language
string
ISO 639-1 language code (e.g. en, de, fr).
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freshness
'day' | 'week' | 'month' | 'year'
Time filter — day is 24 hours.
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date_after
string
Only results published after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
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date_before
string
Only results published before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
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domain_filter
string[]
Domain allowlist/denylist array (max 20).
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max_tokens
number
default:"25000"
Total content budget (max 1000000).
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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 such as country, language, date_after, date_before, domain_filter, max_tokens, and 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,
});

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Domain filter rules

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

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Notes

  • Perplexity Search API returns structured web search results (title, url, snippet)
  • OpenRouter or 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)