pplx

AI search from your terminal. Zero bloat.

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pplx "what is bun"

Query Perplexity AI directly from your terminal. Responses stream in real-time with beautiful markdown formatting.

Features

• ⚡ Streaming — Answers appear as they're generated
• 💬 Conversations — Continue with -c for multi-turn
• 📄 Documents — Analyze PDFs, code, text files
• 🖼️ Images — Describe screenshots and diagrams
• 📝 Export — Save research to markdown
• 🎨 Pretty — Rendered markdown by default
• 🕐 History — Browse and search past queries
• 🧠 Local RAG — Index your own notes with --ingest

Install

bun install -g pplx-zero    # recommended
npm install -g pplx-zero    # requires bun
yay -S pplx-zero            # arch linux

Setup

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="pplx-..."

Get your key at perplexity.ai/settings/api

Usage

# search
pplx "best typescript patterns 2025"

# models
pplx -m sonar-pro "explain transformers"
pplx -m sonar-deep-research "AI regulation analysis"

# conversation
pplx "what is rust"
pplx -c "compare to go"

# files
pplx -f paper.pdf "summarize"
pplx -i diagram.png "explain this"

# export
pplx "topic" -o research.md

# pretty markdown is default
pplx "explain monads"

# raw output (no formatting)
pplx --raw "explain monads"

# history
pplx --history

# local knowledge base
pplx --ingest notes.md           # index a file
pplx --ingest ./docs/             # index a directory
pplx -l "my notes on rust"        # search local knowledge

Models

Model	Use
sonar	Quick answers
sonar-pro	Complex questions
sonar-reasoning-pro	Advanced reasoning
sonar-deep-research	Research reports

Options

Flag	Description
-m	Model selection
-f	Attach file
-i	Attach image
-o	Output to file
-c	Continue conversation
-l	Search local knowledge
--ingest	Index files to local knowledge
--raw	Raw output (no markdown)
--history	View history
--json	JSON output

Philosophy

Minimal. 1 dependency. No frameworks.

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MIT © kenzo