Ask
perplexity.ask
ActionAI & modelsconnection required
Calls the Perplexity API with the connection's credentials.
Ask Perplexity Sonar one question and get a web-grounded answer together with the sources it cites.
Connection
- Required
- Yes — the node will not save without one
- Auth type
- API key
- Providers
- Perplexity
- Secret shape
- {"api_key": "…"}
- Config it needs
- base_url, default_model
- Resolved by
- config.connection_id, else node.connection_id
Configuration
15 fields, 1 required. A dotted path is a nested object and name[] an array of objects — the editor renders the same tree.
| Field | Type | Required | Default | Constraints | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
prompt The question to ask, as the user turn of the conversation. | string | Yes | — | — | What changed in the EU AI Act in the last month? |
system_prompt Optional system turn setting tone, format or role for the answer. | string | No | — | — | — |
model Sonar model to run: sonar, sonar-pro, sonar-reasoning, sonar-reasoning-pro or sonar-deep-research. Falls back to the connection's default model, then sonar. | string | No | sonar | — | sonar |
search_mode Which corpus Perplexity searches: web (the whole web), academic (scholarly papers) or sec (SEC filings). Defaults to web. | string | No | — | one of "web", "academic", "sec" | — |
search_domain_filter Domains to restrict the search to, as a JSON array or a comma-separated list. Prefix a domain with '-' to exclude it instead. | array | No | — | array of string | ["arxiv.org","-reddit.com"] |
search_recency_filter Only use sources published within this window, counted back from now. | string | No | — | one of "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year" | — |
search_after_date_filter Only use sources published on or after this date, written as MM/DD/YYYY. | string | No | — | — | 01/01/2026 |
search_before_date_filter Only use sources published on or before this date, written as MM/DD/YYYY. | string | No | — | — | 12/31/2026 |
search_context_size How much web context to retrieve before answering; larger costs more and answers more thoroughly. Sent as web_search_options.search_context_size. | string | No | — | one of "low", "medium", "high" | — |
return_related_questions Ask Perplexity to suggest follow-up questions alongside the answer. | boolean | No | false | — | — |
return_images Include image results from the sources alongside the answer. | boolean | No | false | — | — |
max_tokens Cap on the tokens generated in the answer. Leave blank for the model default. | number | No | — | ≥ 1 | — |
temperature Sampling randomness, from 0 (deterministic) to 2 (most varied). | number | No | 0.2 | 0–2 | — |
top_p Nucleus sampling threshold between 0 and 1; leave blank to use the model default. | number | No | — | 0–1 | — |
response_format Structured-output request, e.g. {"type": "json_schema", "json_schema": {"schema": {...}}}. Sent through to Perplexity unchanged. | object | No | — | — | — |
Example configuration
Every value below is the contract’s own example or default — nothing invented.
{
"model": "sonar",
"prompt": "What changed in the EU AI Act in the last month?",
"return_images": false,
"return_related_questions": false,
"search_after_date_filter": "01/01/2026",
"search_before_date_filter": "12/31/2026",
"search_domain_filter": [
"arxiv.org",
"-reddit.com"
],
"temperature": 0.2
}Output
One shape.
result
| Field | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|
content The assistant's answer text. | string | — |
citations Source URLs the answer is grounded in, in citation order. | array | — |
search_results The sources behind the citations, each with a title, url, date and last_updated. | array | — |
related_questions Suggested follow-up questions, when asked for. | array | — |
images Image results from the sources, when asked for. | array | — |
id Perplexity's identifier for this completion. | string | — |
model The model that actually answered. | string | — |
finish_reason Why generation stopped, e.g. stop or length. | string | — |
usage Token counts and the cost breakdown Perplexity billed. | object | — |
raw The untouched response body, for anything not shaped above. | object | — |
{
"citations": [],
"content": "",
"finish_reason": "",
"id": "",
"images": [],
"model": "",
"raw": {},
"related_questions": [],
"search_results": [],
"usage": {}
}Related Perplexity nodes
See Ask run in a workflow.
In a technical demo we add the Perplexity connection, drop the node on the canvas and let Workflow Health pre-flight it before the first real run.