Use them to perform quick web searches, extended research, follow-up questions, computations, model checks, logins, and retrieval of previously requested research.

They explain which search method to start with, when deeper research is appropriate, how authentication affects available tools, and why results need source citations.

How Automations-Project/VSCode-Perplexity-MCP configures GitHub Copilo

Q: What is VSCode-Perplexity-MCP perplexity-mcp.instructions.md?

Instructions for using a Perplexity MCP server, which lets an AI coding agent search the web and request answers, reasoning, or research through Perplexity tools.

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to Automations-Project/VSCode-Perplexity-MCP. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Automations-Project/VSCode-Perplexity-MCP/main/.github/instructions/perplexity-mcp.instructions.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Automations-Project/VSCode-Perplexity-MCP

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/automations-project/vscode-perplexity-mcp/perplexity-mcp.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 453 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 453 The same file — it is already loaded in full.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00453	$0.00453
Opus 5.5	$0.00181	$0.00181
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00091	$0.00091
Haiku 4.5	$0.00045	$0.00045

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 6a56c696b1d8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

VSCode-Perplexity-MCP perplexity-mcp.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2mo ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/instructions/perplexity-mcp.instructions.md · 39 lines

What it actually says

Perplexity MCP Server

Available Tools

perplexity_search — Fast web search with source citations. Use for quick factual lookups. Works with or without authentication.
perplexity_reason — Step-by-step reasoning with web context. Requires Pro account.
perplexity_research — Deep multi-section research reports (30-120s). Requires Pro account.
perplexity_ask — Flexible queries with explicit model/mode/follow-up control.
perplexity_compute — ASI/Computer mode for complex multi-step tasks. Requires Max account.
perplexity_models — List available models, account tier, and rate limits.
perplexity_retrieve — Poll results from pending research/compute tasks.
perplexity_list_researches — List saved research history with status.
perplexity_get_research — Fetch full content of a saved research.
perplexity_login — Open browser for Perplexity authentication.

Usage Guidelines

Start with perplexity_search for quick questions. Only escalate to research or reason when depth is needed.
Check rate limits with perplexity_models before batch operations.
Always cite sources from search results in your responses.
For multi-turn conversations, pass the follow_up_context JSON from perplexity_ask responses back in subsequent calls.
Long-running research: perplexity_compute may time out. Use perplexity_retrieve with the returned research_id to poll for results.
Language parameter: Defaults to en-US. Set explicitly for non-English queries.

Model Selection

Tool	Default Model	Best For
perplexity_search	pplx_pro	General web search
perplexity_reason	claude46sonnetthinking	Step-by-step analysis
perplexity_research	pplx_alpha	Deep research reports
perplexity_compute	pplx_asi	Complex multi-step tasks

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

2mo ago First seen · 39 lines · 453 tokens per session scan A 6a56c696b1d8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

VSCode-Perplexity-MCP perplexity-mcp.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository Automations-Project/VSCode-Perplexity-MCP (79 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 453 tokens to every session, about $0.0018 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Research ai browser-automation claude codex cursor gemini

VSCode-Perplexity-MCP perplexity-mcp.instructions.md next to 6 instructions from other repositories
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VSCode-Perplexity-MCP: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot