🚀 What's New in Perplexity: Game-Changing Search API + Major Updates

Perplexity just dropped their next-gen Search API, and it's a kinda game-changer for anyone building AI apps, automations, or research workflows.

Besides the API, one Unofficial Feature first:

🎥It can also now create videos on its own. Excellent. They're comparable to VEO 3 in quality.

They don't contain sound, though. BUT, if you ask perplexity, it will deny that it can create videos.

Which is correct, because it's not yet aware it can. LOL.

🔥 The Search API: What Makes It Different

Instead of just returning a bunch of links, this API gives you clean, AI-ready answers with citations, metadata, and structured output. Here's what you can do with it:

Four Powerful Search Modes:

⚡ Instant Search

Lightning-fast results (basically instant)
Returns titles, URLs, snippets, dates
Perfect for quick lookups and lightweight automations
Comparable to Google Search API or Exa

📚 Grounded Search

Uses AI models (sonar, sonar pro, sonar pro reasoning, deep research)
Every answer is backed by verified citations
Takes longer but gives you rock-solid, traceable sources
Ideal for research and content that needs credibility

🎓 Academic Search

Filter by specific domains (archive.org, PubMed, etc.)
Set recency filters (past month/year)
Prioritizes peer-reviewed studies
Takes 7-10 seconds but returns the highest-quality academic sources

🎯 Structured Output

Define your own JSON schema
Get responses in exactly the format your app needs
Perfect for vibe-coding apps in minutes
No more wrestling with inconsistent data structures

🤖 Multi-Agent Workflows

Build your own AI research team:

Set up a main agent that delegates to specialized sub-agents
Each sub-agent runs different search types (academic, practical, innovative)
Main agent consolidates everything into one comprehensive answer
Identifies patterns, contradictions, and recommendations automatically

💰 Pricing & Performance

~$5 per 1,000 requests (varies by model)
Latency: Instant ≈ real-time Grounded ≈ a few seconds Academic ≈ 7-10 seconds

🆕 Other Major Perplexity Updates

API & Developer Tools:

API Key Rotation for better security
Standalone Search API (raw ranked results without AI processing)
API Portal for team organization and usage monitoring
Advanced Sonar Models with improved reasoning

User-Facing Features:

iOS App Redesign: Faster queries, gesture navigation, smoother UI
Multimodal Search: Upload images to search (now available for all users)
Location-based Filtering: Filter results by your location
Open-source Tools: Evaluation frameworks to benchmark search quality

💡 Real-World Use Cases

Build in Minutes:

Academic research portals with custom filters
Multi-agent research assistants
Automated content pipelines with structured data
Custom search engines with source verification

Integration-Friendly:

Works with n8n, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf
Just plug in curl requests from their docs
Copy/paste templates and swap in your API key

🎯 Bottom Line

This API lets you build custom, source-backed, structured search workflows without heavy engineering. Whether you're automating research, building AI agents, or vibe-coding apps, Perplexity just made it 10x easier.

P.S.: Full docs at docs.perplexity.ai

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