Perplexity Agent Skill

Web search and research using Perplexity AI. Use when user says "search", "find", "look up", "ask", "research", or "what's the latest" for generic queries. NOT for library/framework docs (use Context7) or workspace questions.

3k tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

2271

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/softaworks/agent-toolkit --skill perplexity

The instruction itself

8 sections, as written by the author

Perplexity Tools

Use ONLY when user says "search", "find", "look up", "ask", "research", or "what's the latest" for generic queries. NOT for library/framework docs (use Context7), gt CLI (use Graphite MCP), or workspace questions (use Nx MCP).

Quick Reference

Which Perplexity tool?

Need search results/URLs? → Perplexity Search
Need conversational answer? → Perplexity Ask
Need deep research? → Researcher agent (/research <topic>)

NOT Perplexity - use these instead:

Library/framework docs → Context7 MCP
Graphite gt CLI → Graphite MCP
THIS workspace → Nx MCP
Specific URL → URL Crawler

Perplexity Search

When to use:

Generic searches, finding resources
Current best practices, recent information
Tutorial/blog post discovery
User says "search for...", "find...", "look up..."

Default parameters (ALWAYS USE):

mcp__perplexity__perplexity_search({
  query: "your search query",
  max_results: 3,           // Default is 10 - too many!
  max_tokens_per_page: 512  // Reduce per-result content
})

When to increase limits:

Only if:

User explicitly needs comprehensive results
Initial search found nothing useful
Complex topic needs multiple sources

// Increased limits (use sparingly)
mcp__perplexity__perplexity_search({
  query: "complex topic",
  max_results: 5,
  max_tokens_per_page: 1024
})

Perplexity Ask

When to use:

Need conversational explanation, not search results
Synthesize information from web
Explain concepts with current context

Usage:

mcp__perplexity__perplexity_ask({
  messages: [
    {
      role: "user",
      content: "Explain how postgres advisory locks work"
    }
  ]
})

NOT for:

Library documentation (use Context7)
Deep multi-source research (use researcher agent)

Prohibited Tool

NEVER use: mcp__perplexity__perplexity_research

Use instead: Researcher agent (/research <topic>)

Token cost: 30-50k tokens
Provides multi-source synthesis with citations
Use sparingly for complex questions only

Tool Selection Chain

Priority order:

Context7 MCP - Library/framework docs
Graphite MCP - Any gt CLI mention
Nx MCP - THIS workspace questions
Perplexity Search - Generic searches
Perplexity Ask - Conversational answers
Researcher agent - Deep multi-source research
WebSearch - Last resort (after Perplexity exhausted)

Examples

✅ CORRECT - Use Perplexity Search:

"Find postgres migration best practices"
"Search for React testing tutorials"
"Look up latest trends in microservices"

✅ CORRECT - Use Perplexity Ask:

"Explain how postgres advisory locks work"
"What are the trade-offs of microservices?"

❌ WRONG - Use Context7 instead:

"Search for React hooks documentation" → Context7 MCP
"Find Next.js routing docs" → Context7 MCP
"Look up Temporal workflow API" → Context7 MCP

❌ WRONG - Use Graphite MCP instead:

"Search for gt stack commands" → Graphite MCP
"Find gt branch workflow" → Graphite MCP

❌ WRONG - Use Nx MCP instead:

"Search for build config" (in THIS workspace) → Nx MCP
"Find project dependencies" (in THIS workspace) → Nx MCP

Key Points

Default to limited results - avoid context bloat
Library docs = Context7 - ALWAYS try Context7 first
"gt" = Graphite MCP - ANY "gt" mention uses Graphite
Deep research = /research - NOT perplexity_research tool
Fallback chain - Search → Ask → WebSearch (last resort)

Other skills for the same job

different authors, same section of the catalogue

Networkx

by christophacham

×3

Comprehensive toolkit for creating, analyzing, and visualizing complex networks and graphs in Python. Use when working with network/graph data structures, analyzing relationships between entities, computing graph algorithms (shortest paths, centrality, clustering), detecting communities, generating synthetic networks, or visualizing network topologies. Applicable to social networks, biological networks, transportation systems, citation networks, and any domain involving pairwise relationships.

Interact with Zotero reference management libraries using the pyzotero Python client. Retrieve, create, update, and delete items, collections, tags, and attachments via the Zotero Web API v3. Use this skill when working with Zotero libraries programmatically, managing bibliographic references, exporting citations, searching library contents, uploading PDF attachments, or building research automation workflows that integrate with Zotero.

Create, analyze, and visualize complex networks and graphs in Python with NetworkX. Use when working with network/graph data structures, computing graph algorithms (shortest paths, centrality, clustering), detecting communities, generating synthetic networks (random, scale-free, small-world), reading/writing graph file formats, or drawing network topologies. Common applications include social, biological, transportation, and citation networks.

Use NeuroKit2 to build or audit reproducible research workflows for physiological time-series preprocessing, event/interval analysis, multimodal alignment, variability, and complexity. Trigger when code imports neurokit2 or needs its current APIs, schemas, and method-aware validation—not for diagnosis or device validation.

A practical, jargon-free guide to fp-ts functional programming - the 80/20 approach that gets results without the academic overhead. Use when writing TypeScript with fp-ts library.

4k tokens

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take softaworks/perplexity from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.