feat: add Tavily as alternative search provider alongside Perplexity

README.md

@@ -69,10 +69,12 @@ powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | ie
 
 The following environment variable is required in your claude_desktop_config.json. You can obtain an API key from [Perplexity](https://perplexity.ai)
 
-- `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`: Your Perplexity AI API key
+- `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`: Your Perplexity AI API key (required when using Perplexity provider)
 
 Optional environment variables:
 
+- `SEARCH_PROVIDER`: Select the search backend — `perplexity` (default) or `tavily`
+- `TAVILY_API_KEY`: Your Tavily API key (required when `SEARCH_PROVIDER=tavily`). Get one at [Tavily](https://app.tavily.com)
 - `PERPLEXITY_MODEL`: The Perplexity model to use (defaults to "sonar" if not specified)
 
   Available models:
@@ -94,7 +96,9 @@ Add this tool as a mcp server by editing the Cursor/Claude config file.
   "perplexity-mcp": {
     "env": {
       "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
-      "PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar"
+      "PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar",
+      "SEARCH_PROVIDER": "perplexity",
+      "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
     },
     "command": "uvx",
     "args": [

pyproject.toml

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "aiohttp>=3.8.0",
     "pydantic>=2.0.0",
     "mcp>=1.0.2",
+    "tavily-python>=0.5",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]

src/perplexity_mcp/server.py

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 import os
 
+from tavily import AsyncTavilyClient
+
 from mcp.server.models import InitializationOptions
 import mcp.types as types
 from mcp.server import NotificationOptions, Server
@@ -25,7 +27,7 @@ async def handle_list_prompts() -> list[types.Prompt]:
     return [
         types.Prompt(
             name="perplexity_search_web",
-            description="Search the web using Perplexity AI and filter results by recency",
+            description="Search the web with recency filtering",
             arguments=[
                 types.PromptArgument(
                     name="query",
@@ -80,7 +82,7 @@ async def list_tools() -> list[types.Tool]:
     return [
         types.Tool(
             name="perplexity_search_web",
-            description="Search the web using Perplexity AI with recency filtering",
+            description="Search the web with recency filtering",
             inputSchema={
                 "type": "object",
                 "properties": {
@@ -104,7 +106,11 @@ async def call_tool(
     if name == "perplexity_search_web":
         query = arguments["query"]
         recency = arguments.get("recency", "month")
-        result = await call_perplexity(query, recency)
+        provider = os.getenv("SEARCH_PROVIDER", "perplexity")
+        if provider == "tavily":
+            result = await call_tavily(query, recency)
+        else:
+            result = await call_perplexity(query, recency)
         return [types.TextContent(type="text", text=str(result))]
     raise ValueError(f"Tool not found: {name}")
 
@@ -156,10 +162,37 @@ async def call_perplexity(query: str, recency: str) -> str:
             return content
 
 
+async def call_tavily(query: str, recency: str) -> str:
+    try:
+        client = AsyncTavilyClient(api_key=os.getenv("TAVILY_API_KEY"))
+        response = await client.search(
+            query=query,
+            max_results=5,
+            search_depth="advanced",
+            time_range=recency,
+        )
+    except Exception as e:
+        return f"Tavily search error: {e}"
+    results = response.get("results", [])
+    if not results:
+        return "No results found."
+    formatted = []
+    for i, r in enumerate(results, 1):
+        title = r.get("title", "No title")
+        url = r.get("url", "")
+        content = r.get("content", "")
+        formatted.append(f"[{i}] {title}\n    {url}\n    {content}")
+    return "\n\n".join(formatted)
+
+
 async def main_async():
-    API_KEY = os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY")
-    if not API_KEY:
-        raise ValueError("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY environment variable is required")
+    provider = os.getenv("SEARCH_PROVIDER", "perplexity")
+    if provider == "tavily":
+        if not os.getenv("TAVILY_API_KEY"):
+            raise ValueError("TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable is required when SEARCH_PROVIDER=tavily")
+    else:
+        if not os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY"):
+            raise ValueError("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY environment variable is required")
 
     async with mcp.server.stdio.stdio_server() as (read_stream, write_stream):
         await server.run(
@@ -180,32 +213,44 @@ def main():
     """CLI entry point for perplexity-mcp"""
     logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
-    API_KEY = os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY")
-    if not API_KEY:
-        print(
-            "Error: PERPLEXITY_API_KEY environment variable is required",
-            file=sys.stderr,
-        )
-        sys.exit(1)
+    provider = os.getenv("SEARCH_PROVIDER", "perplexity")
+    logging.info(f"Search provider: {provider}")
 
-    # Log which model is being used (helpful for debug)
-    model = os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_MODEL", "sonar")
-    logging.info(f"Using Perplexity AI model: {model}")
-
-    # List available models
-    available_models = {
-        "sonar-deep-research": "128k context - Enhanced research capabilities",
-        "sonar-reasoning-pro": "128k context - Advanced reasoning with professional focus",
-        "sonar-reasoning": "128k context - Enhanced reasoning capabilities",
-        "sonar-pro": "200k context - Professional grade model",
-        "sonar": "128k context - Default model",
-        "r1-1776": "128k context - Alternative architecture"
-    }
-
-    logging.info("Available Perplexity models (set with PERPLEXITY_MODEL environment variable):")
-    for model_name, description in available_models.items():
-        marker = "→" if model_name == model else " "
-        logging.info(f" {marker} {model_name}: {description}")
+    if provider == "tavily":
+        if not os.getenv("TAVILY_API_KEY"):
+            print(
+                "Error: TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable is required when SEARCH_PROVIDER=tavily",
+                file=sys.stderr,
+            )
+            sys.exit(1)
+        logging.info("Using Tavily search API")
+    else:
+        API_KEY = os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY")
+        if not API_KEY:
+            print(
+                "Error: PERPLEXITY_API_KEY environment variable is required",
+                file=sys.stderr,
+            )
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+        # Log which model is being used (helpful for debug)
+        model = os.getenv("PERPLEXITY_MODEL", "sonar")
+        logging.info(f"Using Perplexity AI model: {model}")
+
+        # List available models
+        available_models = {
+            "sonar-deep-research": "128k context - Enhanced research capabilities",
+            "sonar-reasoning-pro": "128k context - Advanced reasoning with professional focus",
+            "sonar-reasoning": "128k context - Enhanced reasoning capabilities",
+            "sonar-pro": "200k context - Professional grade model",
+            "sonar": "128k context - Default model",
+            "r1-1776": "128k context - Alternative architecture"
+        }
+
+        logging.info("Available Perplexity models (set with PERPLEXITY_MODEL environment variable):")
+        for model_name, description in available_models.items():
+            marker = "→" if model_name == model else " "
+            logging.info(f" {marker} {model_name}: {description}")
 
     asyncio.run(main_async())