Perplexity выпустила pplx: CLI для Search API прямо в терминале за $5 за 1000 запросов

Perplexity released pplx on July 27, 2026 — the official CLI client for its Search API, which returns web search results and cleaned page text as JSON straight into the terminal, priced at $5 per 1,000 requests.

What pplx can do

pplx provides exactly two working commands and is not a chat client. The `pplx search web` command runs a live web search, while `pplx content fetch` pulls a given URL and returns the page's cleaned text. According to the documentation, the tool is designed equally for humans and coding agents — but it has no conversational mode, model selection, or synthesized answers. For `content fetch`, the documentation recommends checking the `error` and `is_paywall` fields in the output before using the text, and the `--html` flag adds live raw HTML via a crawler.

• Two commands: `pplx search web` (search) and `pplx content fetch` (page extraction)
• Output is always JSON, no chat
• Search API price — $5.00 per 1,000 requests
• Limit — 50 QPS on all plans
• Platforms: macOS on Apple Silicon, Linux x86_64, and Linux arm64

How the output contract works

pplx builds its behavior around a predictable output contract — its main feature for automation. Success means an exit code of 0 and exactly one JSON object in stdout; search returns a structure with a `hits` array, a `total` field, and an optional `saved_to`. Any failure ends with exit code 1 and empty stdout, while a single JSON error object goes to stderr with `code`, `message`, `command`, and an optional `hint` fields.

"Success is exit code 0 and exactly one JSON object on stdout," the official pplx-cli

Agent Skill states.

The documented error codes are AUTHENTICATION, UNKNOWN_ARGUMENT, ARGUMENT_ERROR, and BAD_REQUEST. The list is not exhaustive, so calling code should branch on the `error.code` field rather than rely on a fixed set. This contract lets an agent reliably tell success from failure by exit code, without parsing the response text.

Installation and context savings

Installing pplx is a single shell command that downloads a script and pipes it into `sh`; the binary is placed in the `~/.local/bin/pplx` directory without sudo. The script pulls `manifest.json` from the latest release, pins the version across all downloads (to avoid landing on a concurrent publication), verifies the SHA256 checksum, and only then installs the file. There is no Windows support and no Intel version of macOS — only three platforms are available.

Perplexity paid separate attention to saving context window space, which is critical for agents. The `--output-dir` flag writes the full result to a JSON file, while `--stdout-preview` truncates long string fields in stdout, adding `truncated` markers. An important gotcha: `--stdout-preview` doesn't work without a save directory — truncation only turns on together with `--output-dir` or the `PPLX_OUTPUT_DIR` variable. For CI and agents, authorization via `pplx auth login` is unavailable, since it only works in a TTY, so the key is passed via the `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` variable.

What this means

Perplexity is packaging its search engine into a tool built for coding agents: a strict JSON contract, predictable exit codes, and control over token spend make the Search API a convenient building block for autonomous pipelines, not just for a human at the keyboard.

FAQ

How much does pplx cost?

The CLI itself is free, but calls to the Search API are billed: $5.00 per 1,000 requests, with a limit of 50 QPS on all plans.

Does pplx work on Windows?

No. Only macOS on Apple Silicon, Linux x86_64, and Linux arm64 are supported. There are no builds for Windows or the Intel version of macOS in the release.

Is this a replacement for the Perplexity chatbot?

No. pplx is not a chat client: it has no conversational mode, model selection, or synthesized answers — only web search and page text extraction as JSON.