What are MCPs and how do they work with Perplexity?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol and is a novel protocol that can be used to securely connect external data sources, tools, and services to AI tools like Perplexity. Think of MCPs as "connectors" that allow you to access your everyday apps through the Perplexity interface. You can perform actions, search for information, edit files, and more using MCPs.
Local MCP for the Mac app is available now and Remote MCP is coming soon. Rolling-out to paid subscribers first.
What are Local vs. Remote MCPs?
Local MCP servers allow you to interact with files, databases, applications, and services on your computer while sending the minimum viable amount of data to Perplexity. Local MCP is particularly valuable when working with sensitive data like personal financial information, health records, or proprietary business data. Remote MCP servers, instead, require remote authentication and server-side connectivity to data.
Perplexity currently supports local MCPs on the MacOS platform via the Mac App Store.
Setup and Configuration for Local MCP on MacOS
Here’s how to activate local MCPs for the Perplexity Mac app:
Open your account settings and click on Connectors
Before you can add MCP Connectors, you have to install the helper application PerplexityXPC so that Perplexity can securely connect to your local MCP servers.
3. Once the Helper is installed, go back to the Connectors settings and click Add Connector
4. On the “Add Connector” page, add an MCP Connector to the “Simple” tab
a. Add any name for “Server Name”, for example MCP for AppleScript
b. Add the command that is used to run the MCP server
This can usually be found in the README of the MCP server. Read the instructions carefully.
Make sure you have any requirements for the MCP server installed, for example
brew install nodeif you neednpx. Ask Perplexity if you need any help installing requirements on your computer.Enter the command after installing requirements. For example, for https://github.com/joshrutkowski/applescript-mcp the command is
npx -y @peakmojo/applescript-mcp
5. Click "Save" and wait for the MCP server to show "Running" status in the Connectors list. Make sure the MCP server is running.
6. Go to the Perplexity homepage and toggle your MCP on underneath “Sources”
7. Test your MCP server: Ask a new command in Perplexity that references the MCP server like “check my mac calendar”. This should run one of the MCP server’s tools and prompt you for confirmation.
Example Configuration
Examples of Useful MCPs on MacOS
Examples of useful MCPs can be found on Github and other open-source websites. Since servers run on your computer, please carefully check open source solutions to evaluate their security, privacy, and usability.
A few examples of useful local MCPs on MacOS:
Apple Notes: Search and edit your Apple Notes. Install from https://github.com/RafalWilinski/mcp-apple-notes.
Apple MCP tools: Create reminders, calendar events, send emails, etc. Install at https://github.com/supermemoryai/apple-mcp .
Filesystem Access: Access a subset of your local directories, read files, search files, and more. Download at https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/filesystem#npx .
iTerm: Give Perplexity the ability to control iTerm 2 with natural language. Try it at https://github.com/ferrislucas/iterm-mcp.
Note that local MCP servers are not officially recognized by Perplexity or Apple. Do your own research based on discussions, reviews, issues, and developer reputation to evaluate how trustworthy open-source software is.
What are Remote MCPs?
Remote MCP servers are cloud-based services (SaaS tools) that run on the internet rather than on your local machine. Unlike local MCP servers that live on your computer, remote servers are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
For example, you can use remote MCP for creating new issues in Linear through conversations in Perplexity, allowing you to quickly log bugs or tasks without switching tools. For example: “Open a ticket about a file attachment bug and assign it to Tom,” Perplexity will invoke the “Open a Linear ticket” tool, populate the title as “File attachment bug,” and assign it to Tom, all within Perplexity.
Remote MCP is coming soon to all platforms. More info to follow.