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Perplexity is an AI search and answer engine that returns concise answers grounded in live web data and backed by sources. The Perplexity connector lets your Lovable app call the Perplexity API with a shared connection. It’s designed for apps that need fresh, source-backed information rather than static or training-only knowledge. Perplexity is available as an app + chat connector: one shared connection that works in the project chat while you build and in your published apps. With Perplexity, your app can:
  • Search the live web and get ranked results with titles, links, snippets, and dates
  • Answer questions with current information from the web and cite the sources
  • Search only academic papers or only SEC filings when a question calls for it
  • Turn a single question into a long-form research report
  • Pick a faster or a more thorough model for each request
Perplexity is a good fit for news trackers, research assistants, market intelligence dashboards, and fact-checking apps.

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Two ways to connect

When adding a connection, you choose between two options. They differ in what your app can do and who bills the usage. On a managed connection, Lovable builds search features only. When you ask for summaries or chat-style answers, Lovable combines Perplexity search results with Lovable AI, which bills its own AI usage. If you ask for grounded chat, deep research, or academic or SEC search, Lovable tells you in chat that those need your own Perplexity API key and does not build them on the managed connection.

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Common use cases and example apps

These examples show what you can build with Perplexity, each with a prompt to start from.

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How to connect Perplexity

Who can create Perplexity connections depends on your plan and workspace settings. App + chat connectors are available by default on Free, Pro, and Business plans. On Enterprise plans, they are effectively disabled at first: Who can create connections and clients defaults to No one until an admin changes it in Connectors → Admin settings → App + chat connectors. When adding a connection, you choose between two options:
  • Managed by Lovable: Lovable provides and manages the credentials for you. Web search only. Each search spends workspace credits.
  • Use your own credentials: connect with your own Perplexity API key for the full Perplexity API, and manage billing in Perplexity.
When the connection is created, you can link it to the projects where you want to use it. Anyone building in a project can ask Lovable in the project chat to link their project to it. Follow the setup steps below for the option you want.
Choose this option for the fastest setup. You don’t need a Perplexity account or API key. The managed connection supports the Perplexity Search API only: web search results with sources, filtered by domain or recency.
You can create one managed Perplexity connection per workspace. If one exists, the Managed by Lovable option is unavailable in the form until you delete it.

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Usage and billing

Lovable charges each successful search request to the workspace that owns the project at the rate in Pricing below. See Credits and usage for how usage-based credits work.A workspace can make up to 1,000 managed search requests per 24 hours across all of its projects. Requests beyond that limit fail until the window passes. If the workspace runs out of credits, search requests fail until you top up. The connection’s page shows its credit usage, which may not appear immediately.

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Set up the managed connection

To create the managed connection:
1

Open Perplexity in Connectors

Open Connectors and select Perplexity. For the other places to open the catalog from, see Where to find connectors.
2

Add a connection

Click Add connection and select App + chat connector. The form is split into collapsible sections, Details, Configure connection, and Sharing.
3

Name the connection

Under Details, Lovable fills in a name for the connection, which you can change. The name is only used inside Lovable to identify the connection.
4

Choose Managed by Lovable

Under Configure connection, select Managed by Lovable. No credential fields appear for this option.
5

Choose who can use this connection

Managed connections are shared with the entire workspace by default. To limit who can use the connection, click Restrict to specific people under Sharing.See Who can use connections and clients for more information.
6

Connect

Above the button, a usage note explains that connecting lets Lovable send data to Perplexity and deduct Lovable credits, with links to Perplexity’s pricing and to Lovable’s provider rules for Perplexity. Click Connect.
When connected, anyone building in a project can ask Lovable in the project chat to link their project to Perplexity (based on configured connection-level access). Your Lovable apps can then retrieve up-to-date, source-backed results from Perplexity.

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Pricing

With Managed by Lovable, search costs 20 Lovable credits per 1,000 searches, or 10 Lovable credits on Business plans. That matches Perplexity’s Search API list price of $5 per 1,000 requests. Lovable meters each successful search request, so cost follows how many searches your app runs, not how many results each one returns. Lovable charges the workspace that owns the project, whether the search runs in the preview while you build or in your published app, and the usage appears under Run credits. With Use your own credentials, Perplexity bills usage directly to your Perplexity account, and Lovable credits do not apply.

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Limitations

The Perplexity connector cannot:
  • Call anything beyond the Search API on a managed connection. Grounded chat, Sonar models, deep research, and the academic and SEC search modes need a connection that uses your own credentials. Lovable does not build those features on a managed connection.
  • Rotate API keys automatically for connections that use your own credentials. To rotate, create a new key in Perplexity and update the Lovable connection.
  • Support per-end-user Perplexity login. Each connection represents a single Perplexity account, or Lovable’s managed access, shared across all projects linked to it.

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Troubleshooting

If requests through the connection fail, the sections below cover the most common errors and how to resolve them.
The app calls a Perplexity endpoint other than search, which the managed connection does not allow. Ask Lovable to rebuild the feature on Perplexity search results, or add a connection with Use your own credentials and link the project to it.
The workspace that owns the project has run out of credits. Top up credits for that workspace, and requests resume. See Credits and usage.
The API key is valid, but the Perplexity account it belongs to has run out of API credits. Buy or top up API credits in the Perplexity API console for that account. A Pro subscription’s credits are managed separately.

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Manage your Perplexity connection

Connections are managed from Connectors: select Perplexity, then open the connection.
  • Unlink projects to remove Perplexity access from specific projects while keeping the connection available for others. See Unlink projects from a connection for the steps.
  • Delete the connection to remove it from the workspace entirely. Deleting is permanent. It removes the credentials from all linked projects, and app features that use Perplexity stop working until a new connection is added. See Delete a connection for the steps and who can delete.