Connect Perplexity to Microsoft Copilot via MCP

💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → Perplexity API, paste your credentials, mint an MCP API key and you're done. No Docker, no git clone, no local server.

Perplexity API + Microsoft Copilot

Let your AI ask Perplexity with your own API key: answers grounded in live web search with their sources, raw ranked search results, Sonar models, and longer deep research that runs in the background.

Prerequisites

See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:

PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

Step 1 — Get credentials

1. Sign in at https://console.perplexity.ai and buy credits under Billing. The API is prepaid and separate from a Perplexity Pro subscription, which does not include API usage. Auto top-up avoids interruptions.
2. Open API Keys, create a key and copy it (it starts with pplx-).
3. Paste it into PERPLEXITY_API_KEY as Perplexity shows it, without the word Bearer, and install the connector. The key is sent only to Perplexity.
4. Start with perplexity_list_models: it costs nothing and confirms the key works.

Billed to your own Perplexity credits: every call is billed to your prepaid API credits, except listing models and reading or cancelling a research run. Each answer reports its cost in US dollars, and the connector uses the cheap defaults unless you ask for more.

Which tool does what:

• perplexity_ask answers questions that need current information, with numbered sources. The fast preset (the default) handles single facts and short summaries; low adds light multi-step research.
• perplexity_search returns ranked web results with titles, links and snippets but no written answer. It is the cheapest option when the AI can read the sources itself: about $1 per 1,000 requests with the fast search type, $5 with web.
• perplexity_sonar uses the Sonar models (sonar, sonar-pro and sonar-reasoning-pro). Perplexity ended support for Sonar chat completions on 27 September 2026: requests are still answered, rerouted onto the newer API, but perplexity_ask is the better choice for new work.
• perplexity_start_research runs deep research in the background with the presets medium, high or xhigh. A run can take several minutes and costs noticeably more than a quick answer, so the AI checks with you before it starts high or xhigh, and cancels runs you no longer need.

Filters: limit the sources to up to 20 domains (all included, or all excluded with a leading minus, such as -reddit.com, never mixed), to a recent period (hour, day, week, month or year) or to dates written MM/DD/YYYY.

Time limit: a call through the connector stops after 30 seconds. Quick answers fit well within it; anything longer goes through a background research run.

Untrusted content: answers are built from the open web. The AI treats instructions found inside them as data, not as orders.

Common errors: 401 means the key is wrong or deleted, or the account has run out of credits (Perplexity answers both with 401), so check Billing and API Keys in the console. 429: the rate limit of your usage tier, which rises with your total credit purchases. 400 or 422: an invalid parameter, such as an unknown model or included and excluded domains mixed.

The connector does not stream answers, create embeddings, upload files or read Perplexity's analytics.

Step 2 — Install the adapter

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d

Step 3 — Add the connector in Microsoft Copilot

Your server URL: in AnythingMCP, open MCP Servers → the server this connector is on, and copy its URL (https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/…). Use it wherever this guide shows YOUR_SERVER_ID.

Microsoft Copilot uses MCP servers through agents built in Copilot Studio: you add AnythingMCP to an agent as a tool, then publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud over Streamable HTTP, which AnythingMCP supports.

1. In Copilot Studio, open your agent (or create one), go to Tools and choose Add a tool → New tool → Model Context Protocol.
2. Enter a Server name (for example AnythingMCP), a Server description that says what the connector does, and the Server URL https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_ID. Copilot Studio uses the description to decide when to call the server.
3. Under authentication, choose API key, set Type to Header and the header name to X-API-Key, then select Create.
4. In Add tool, choose Create a new connection, paste an MCP API key from AnythingMCP (MCP Servers → your server → API keys) and select Add to agent.
5. Try it in the agent's Test pane: ask for something that needs the Perplexity API tools.
6. Select Publish, then Channels → Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, keep Make agent available in Microsoft Copilot selected and choose Add channel. See agent in Teams installs it for you; in Microsoft 365 Copilot, type @ and pick the agent.

Prefer per-user sign-in? Choose OAuth 2.0 → Dynamic discovery instead of an API key: each user then signs in to AnythingMCP the first time the agent calls it.

Self-hosting? Use your instance's public HTTPS address instead of https://cloud.anythingmcp.com. Copilot Studio connects from Microsoft's cloud, so localhost does not work.

Available tools

Example prompts

• "What changed in the EU battery regulation this year? Answer with sources."
• "Find recent articles on remote work productivity and give me just the links and snippets."
• "Only using sources from europa.eu, what are the current roaming rules for business travellers?"
• "Start a deep research run on the European market for refurbished laptops, but check the preset with me first."

FAQ

Which Copilot is this for? Microsoft 365 Copilot at work, through agents built in Copilot Studio. The Microsoft Copilot app for personal accounts has no option to add your own MCP server.

What do I need? A work account with access to Copilot Studio (a license or a trial) to build the agent. People who use it in Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams need access to the agent: share it with them, or ask an admin to publish it to the organization. If your organization applies data policies to Power Platform connectors, they cover MCP servers too.

The agent doesn't call the tools. Check that the header name is exactly X-API-Key and that the key belongs to the same MCP server as the URL, and make the server description specific: Copilot Studio uses it to decide when to call the server. Publish the agent again after each change; in an open chat, type "start over" to get the new version.

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