promptfoo/examples/perplexity.ai-example

perplexity.ai-example (Perplexity API Examples)

This example demonstrates how to use Perplexity's search-augmented chat models to get up-to-date answers with citations, structured outputs, and specialized reasoning.

You can run this example with:

npx promptfoo@latest init --example perplexity.ai-example

Features Demonstrated

• Real-time web search with academic citations
• Multiple specialized models for different use cases
• Structured outputs (JSON schema and regex patterns)
• Date-range and location-based search filtering
• Search domain filtering for trusted sources
• Chain of thought (CoT) reasoning
• Deep research capabilities

Environment Variables

This example requires the following environment variables:

• PERPLEXITY_API_KEY - Your Perplexity API key from Perplexity Settings
• OPENAI_API_KEY - Your OpenAI API key (for comparison model in basic example)

You can set these in a .env file or directly in your environment:

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Example Configurations

This example includes multiple configuration files to demonstrate different Perplexity features:

1. Basic Model Comparison (promptfooconfig.yaml)

Compares different Perplexity search models against a traditional non-search model (GPT-4o-mini):

• sonar: Lightweight search model
• sonar-pro: Advanced search model with high context
• sonar-reasoning: Fast reasoning model with step-by-step thinking

npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.yaml

2. Structured Outputs (promptfooconfig.structured-output.yaml)

Demonstrates Perplexity's structured output capabilities:

• JSON schema enforcement for movie information
• Regex pattern matching for postal codes

npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.structured-output.yaml

3. Advanced Search Filters (promptfooconfig.search-filters.yaml)

Shows how to use advanced search filtering options:

• Date range filtering for time-sensitive queries
• Location-based results for geographical context
• Domain filtering for trusted sources

npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.search-filters.yaml

4. Research and Reasoning (promptfooconfig.research-reasoning.yaml)

Demonstrates specialized models for research and reasoning:

• sonar-deep-research: Comprehensive research model
• sonar-reasoning-pro: Advanced reasoning with Chain of Thought
• r1-1776: Offline model without search capabilities

npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.research-reasoning.yaml

Usage

After initializing the example, you can run any of the configurations:

cd perplexity.ai-example
npx promptfoo@latest eval -c <config-file.yaml>
npx promptfoo@latest view

What You'll Learn

These examples will show you how to:

• Use different Perplexity models for specific tasks
• Control search parameters for better results
• Get structured outputs in specific formats
• Utilize location and date-based filtering
• Leverage specialized research and reasoning capabilities
• Compare search-augmented models with traditional models