Perplexity Provider for WordPress

A WordPress plugin that registers Perplexity as an AI provider for the WordPress AI Client, starting with the Sonar API — search-augmented AI models that deliver real-time, accurate answers.

Requirements

• WordPress 7.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• AI Experiments plugin (for running experiments through the WordPress admin)

Installation

Clone this repository into your wp-content/plugins/ directory:

git clone https://github.com/coenjacobs/wordpress-perplexity-provider.git wp-content/plugins/perplexity-provider
cd wp-content/plugins/perplexity-provider
composer install

Activate the plugin through the WordPress admin panel or WP-CLI:

wp plugin activate perplexity-provider

Configuration

API Key

The API key can be configured in three ways (in order of precedence):

1. Environment variable: Set PERPLEXITY_SONAR_API_KEY in your environment
2. PHP constant: Define PERPLEXITY_SONAR_API_KEY in wp-config.php
3. Settings page: Enter it at Settings > Perplexity in the WordPress admin

Model Selection

Visit Settings > Perplexity to enable specific models. The following Sonar models are available:

• Sonar — Fast, lightweight search-augmented model
• Sonar Pro — Advanced search-augmented model with higher quality
• Sonar Reasoning Pro — Extended thinking with search augmentation
• Sonar Deep Research — Multi-step research with comprehensive answers

Only enabled models are exposed to the WordPress AI Client and available for use in AI Experiments.

How It Works

The plugin registers a single provider (perplexity-sonar) with the WordPress AI Client registry on the init hook. All Sonar models use the OpenAI-compatible /chat/completions endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai.

The model list is hardcoded since Perplexity does not provide a /models API endpoint.

Development Environment

The project includes a Docker-based development environment. No PHP, Composer, or other tools are needed on the host machine.

Quick Start

make build    # Build the Docker image
make setup    # Full setup: download WordPress, configure, install, activate plugin

This gives you a working WordPress 7.0-beta2 installation at http://localhost:8083 (admin/admin) with the plugin activated.

Makefile Targets

Docker Stack

• PHP: 8.5 CLI Alpine with built-in web server
• Database: MariaDB 11
• WordPress: 7.0-beta2 (downloaded via curl + tar)

Volume Mounts

• ./wordpress/ → /var/www/html — WordPress root (gitignored)
• ./ → /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/perplexity-provider — plugin source
• ./docker/mariadb/data/ → /var/lib/mysql — database storage (gitignored)