How Do I Connect Perplexity to an MCP Server?
Perplexity can connect to MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers through custom connectors. That lets it read your own notes and tools, not just the public web.
Quick answer
Perplexity connects to MCP servers through custom connectors, a paid-tier feature as of May 2026. In Settings, add a custom connector, paste the remote MCP server URL (for Hjarni, https://hjarni.com/mcp), and complete the OAuth sign-in if the server requires it. Once connected, Perplexity can read your own notes and tools mid-answer, not just the public web.
What Perplexity can do with an MCP connector
Yes, Perplexity supports MCP. A custom connector lets it call the tools an MCP server exposes, so it can answer from your own notes and data, not just the public web. Connected to a knowledge base like Hjarni, Perplexity can:
- Search
- Find relevant notes by keyword or topic while it answers
- Read
- Pull in the full content of a note to ground a response
Reading is the core: Perplexity grounds its answers in the notes it retrieves. If your plan also surfaces the server's write tools, it can create and update notes from a thread too, though write support varies by Perplexity build. The exact tools depend on the MCP server. Enable the connector in a thread and Perplexity can call whatever it exposes.
A note on availability
Perplexity's MCP connector support is newer than the equivalent feature in Claude or ChatGPT, and the plans it ships on have been changing. As of May 2026, custom connectors are a paid-tier feature.
Perplexity controls the exact menus and plan gating, and both move. Treat the steps below as the shape of the flow, and check Perplexity's own settings and help docs for the current wording on your account.
What you need
- A Perplexity account on a plan that includes custom connectors (check your account)
- An MCP server URL from the service you want to connect (for example,
https://hjarni.com/mcp)
Add a custom connector
- Open Settings in Perplexity and find Connectors
- Choose to add a custom connector
- Enter the MCP server URL (e.g.
https://hjarni.com/mcp) - Complete the sign-in the connector prompts for, then save
- In a thread, enable the connector so Perplexity can call its tools
If your Perplexity build words these steps differently, the underlying idea is the same: point a custom connector at the MCP server URL and authorize it once.
Verifying the connection
Start a thread, enable the connector, and ask something only your notes would know. For example, if you connected Hjarni:
"Based on my Hjarni notes, what did we decide about pricing last quarter?"
If Perplexity answers from your notes instead of the open web, the connection is working.
Troubleshooting
The connector option is missing
Custom connectors are a paid-tier feature and the plan that includes them can change. Check your plan in Perplexity settings. If the option is still missing on a paid plan, or adding a server fails before sign-in, work through Perplexity: no option to add a custom MCP connector.
Perplexity answers from the web instead of your notes
Make sure the connector is enabled for the current thread, and ask a question that clearly points at your notes.
Sign-in does not stick
Remove the connector and add it again, then complete the authorization without closing the tab early.
Try it with Hjarni
Hjarni is a knowledge base with a built-in MCP server. Connect it to Perplexity and your research has somewhere to land. Save what you find, then ask Perplexity to read it back in the next thread.
The MCP server URL is https://hjarni.com/mcp. The same notes are read by Claude and ChatGPT too, so your context is not locked to one tool.
Give your AI notes it can actually read. Free.
Hjarni is a knowledge base with a built-in MCP server. Create a free account and your endpoint is ready in about a minute.
Give your AI notes it can actually read. Free.