Perplexify CLI

Perplexify CLI is a standalone terminal and HTTP wrapper around a cookie-based Perplexity reverse web client. It does not call the official api.perplexity.ai endpoint.

Install

From this folder:

.\perplexify_setup.bat

Manual install:

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m playwright install chromium

First Run

Fast Windows setup from the Perplexify folder:

.\perplexify_setup.bat

This installs Python dependencies, installs Playwright Chromium, then opens the cookie setup flow.

Manual setup:

python cli.py setup

Paste the __Secure-next-auth.session-token cookie from a logged-in Perplexity session. The CLI stores it in cookie.private.json and mirrors it to the local Perplexify .env by default.

For GitHub/public sharing, commit .env.example and never commit .env. Perplexify reads configuration in this order:

1. Process environment variable PPLX_COOKIE
2. Local .env
3. Local cookie.private.json

Use --no-env if you only want the private CLI store:

python cli.py setup --no-env

Commands

Quick launcher:

.\perplexify_launch.bat
.\perplexify_launch.bat search "Latest PSG injury news"
.\perplexify_launch.bat serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8787

With no arguments, perplexify_launch.bat opens chat mode.

Direct Python commands:

python cli.py status
python cli.py models
python cli.py ask "Explain Perplexity reverse SSE"
python cli.py search "Latest PSG injury news"
python cli.py chat --model sonar

Search mode prints a formatted answer followed by a Sources table when the reverse stack extracts web URLs.

Chat mode keeps a small in-memory conversation context and animates the final answer in the terminal.

Modern Go Terminal App

Perplexify also ships a modern keyboard-driven terminal app in Go under go-tui/. It uses the Python JSON backend for real Perplexity reverse-web queries, but the interface is a native terminal app with menus, panels, loading animations, and a dark coral theme.

Install Go first from https://go.dev/dl/, then run from this folder:

.\perplexify_go_run.bat

Build a Windows executable:

.\perplexify_go_build.bat
.\go-tui\dist\perplexify.exe

Launch the built executable when available, falling back to go run:

.\perplexify_app.bat

Keyboard controls:

• up/down or j/k: move in menus
• enter: select, submit search, or send chat message
• esc: return home
• q: back/quit depending on screen
• ctrl+c: quit immediately
• r: refresh status screen

The Go app intentionally uses no green UI states. The palette is black, coral/orange, white, grey, and small cyan accents for technical metadata. The layout is responsive: wide terminals show side-by-side panels, while smaller terminals switch to stacked panels and a compact logo so the interface does not get crushed.

JSON / Stdio Integration

Use this when another program wants to launch Perplexify as a subprocess:

python cli.py json --mode search --query "latest Ligue 1 injuries"

If --query is omitted, stdin is read:

"latest Ligue 1 injuries" | python cli.py json --mode search

Stable response shape:

{
  "ok": true,
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "...",
  "answer": "...",
  "sources": [{"title": "...", "url": "...", "snippet": "", "host": ""}],
  "model_requested": "sonar",
  "model_used": "perplexity-pro-browser",
  "status": "bridge_ok",
  "elapsed_ms": 12000,
  "error": null
}

Local HTTP Bridge

python cli.py serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8787

Endpoints:

• GET /health
• GET /models
• POST /ask
• POST /search
• POST /chat

Example body:

{
  "query": "latest Real Madrid injury news",
  "model": "sonar",
  "context": ""
}

Keep the default 127.0.0.1 bind for local extension/software usage.

Live Test

Run all launch paths plus live search/chat validation:

.\perplexify_test.bat

The live test reads the cookie from the local .env first, validates the session, runs one search query, runs one chat query, and fails if no external source URLs are returned.

Local Export

Export a portable folder:

.\perplexify_go_build.bat
.\perplexify_export.bat C:\Users\jonha.UWUKIRTIS\Documents\Perplexitfy

The exported folder contains:

• the Python backend files;
• the local .env;
• requirements.txt;
• the Go executable at go-tui\dist\perplexify.exe when built.

From the exported folder:

cd C:\Users\jonha.UWUKIRTIS\Documents\Perplexitfy
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
.\go-tui\dist\perplexify.exe

The Go executable searches upward from its own location for a folder containing cli.py, then calls python cli.py ....

Public GitHub ZIP

Create a public package without .env, cookies, or private files:

.\perplexify_go_build.bat
.\perplexify_export.bat --public --zip C:\Users\jonha.UWUKIRTIS\Documents\Perplexify-public

The public ZIP includes .env.example, source files, scripts, Go sources, and the built go-tui\dist\perplexify.exe. It intentionally excludes .env and cookie.private.json.