Perplexity AI Search Web search with AI powered answers, deep research, and chain of thought reasoning. When to Use Direct web search for ranked results (no AI synthesis) AI synthesized research with citations Chain of thought reasoning for complex decisions Deep comprehensive research on topics Models (2025) Model Purpose sonar Lightweight search with grounding sonar pro Advanced search for complex queries sonar reasoning pro Chain of thought reasoning sonar deep research Expert level exhaustive research Usage Quick question (AI answer) Direct web search (ranked results, no AI) AI synthesized research Chain of thought reasoning Deep comprehensive research Parameters Parameter Description ask Quick question with AI answer (sonar) search Direct web search ranked results without AI synthesis research AI synthesized research (sonar pro) reason Chain of thought reasoning (sonar reasoning pro) deep Deep comprehensive research (sonar deep research) Search specific options Parameter Description max results N Number of results (1 20, default: 10) recency Filter: day , week , month , year domains Limit to specific domains Mode Selection Guide Need Use Why Quick fact ask Fast, lightweight Find sources search Raw results, no AI overhead Synthesized answer research AI combines multiple sources Complex decision reason Chain of thought analysis Comprehensive report deep Exhaustive multi source research Examples API Key Required Requires PERPLEXITY API KEY in environment or ~/.claude/.env .

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