Create Message

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "model": "<string>",
  "max_tokens": 1073741824,
  "messages": [
    {
      "content": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "thinking": {
    "type": "enabled",
    "budget_tokens": 123
  }
}
'

import requests

url = "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages"

payload = {
    "model": "<string>",
    "max_tokens": 1073741824,
    "messages": [{ "content": "<string>" }],
    "thinking": {
        "type": "enabled",
        "budget_tokens": 123
    }
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    model: '<string>',
    max_tokens: 1073741824,
    messages: [{content: '<string>'}],
    thinking: {type: 'enabled', budget_tokens: 123}
  })
};

fetch('https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'model' => '<string>',
    'max_tokens' => 1073741824,
    'messages' => [
        [
                'content' => '<string>'
        ]
    ],
    'thinking' => [
        'type' => 'enabled',
        'budget_tokens' => 123
    ]
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "id": "<string>",
  "type": "message",
  "role": "assistant",
  "model": "<string>",
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "<string>",
      "cache_control": {
        "type": "ephemeral",
        "ttl": "5m"
      }
    }
  ],
  "stop_reason": "end_turn",
  "stop_sequence": "<string>",
  "usage": {
    "input_tokens": 123,
    "output_tokens": 123,
    "cache_creation_input_tokens": 123,
    "cache_read_input_tokens": 123,
    "cache_creation": {
      "ephemeral_5m_input_tokens": 123,
      "ephemeral_1h_input_tokens": 123
    },
    "service_tier": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

POST

router

messages

Create Message

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "model": "<string>",
  "max_tokens": 1073741824,
  "messages": [
    {
      "content": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "thinking": {
    "type": "enabled",
    "budget_tokens": 123
  }
}
'

import requests

url = "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages"

payload = {
    "model": "<string>",
    "max_tokens": 1073741824,
    "messages": [{ "content": "<string>" }],
    "thinking": {
        "type": "enabled",
        "budget_tokens": 123
    }
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    model: '<string>',
    max_tokens: 1073741824,
    messages: [{content: '<string>'}],
    thinking: {type: 'enabled', budget_tokens: 123}
  })
};

fetch('https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'model' => '<string>',
    'max_tokens' => 1073741824,
    'messages' => [
        [
                'content' => '<string>'
        ]
    ],
    'thinking' => [
        'type' => 'enabled',
        'budget_tokens' => 123
    ]
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.perplexity.ai/router/v1/messages")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"model\": \"<string>\",\n  \"max_tokens\": 1073741824,\n  \"messages\": [\n    {\n      \"content\": \"<string>\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"thinking\": {\n    \"type\": \"enabled\",\n    \"budget_tokens\": 123\n  }\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "id": "<string>",
  "type": "message",
  "role": "assistant",
  "model": "<string>",
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "<string>",
      "cache_control": {
        "type": "ephemeral",
        "ttl": "5m"
      }
    }
  ],
  "stop_reason": "end_turn",
  "stop_sequence": "<string>",
  "usage": {
    "input_tokens": 123,
    "output_tokens": 123,
    "cache_creation_input_tokens": 123,
    "cache_read_input_tokens": 123,
    "cache_creation": {
      "ephemeral_5m_input_tokens": 123,
      "ephemeral_1h_input_tokens": 123
    },
    "service_tier": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

Authenticate with your Perplexity API key. Both Authorization: Bearer and the Anthropic SDK’s default x-api-key header are accepted, so the stock SDK api_key parameter works unchanged. No anthropic-version header is required.

Parameter support

Honored: model, max_tokens (required), messages, system, stream, temperature, top_p, top_k, stop_sequences, thinking (only {"type": "disabled"}), tools, tool_choice. Message content and tool_result.content accept text, image, document, and search_result blocks. Document sources can be base64, plain text, or URLs and may include title and context.Accepted but not forwarded to the model: metadata.Rejected with a 400: service_tier, thinking with {"type": "enabled"}, cache_control on content blocks or tools, plus any unrecognized top-level field. A tool’s description is optional.

Errors

Errors use the Anthropic envelope:

{
  "type": "error",
  "error": {
    "type": "overloaded_error",
    "message": "upstream model is overloaded, please try again later"
  }
}

An overloaded model returns HTTP 429 with type overloaded_error and a Retry-After header. Requests that fail before producing output are not billed.

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

Your Perplexity API key.

Body

application/json

Request body for POST /router/v1/messages.

model

string

required

Public model slug, e.g. perplexity/kimi-k3.

max_tokens

integer

required

Maximum number of tokens to generate. Required by the Messages API.

Required range: 1 <= x <= 2147483647

messages

object[]

required

Show child attributes

system

System prompt as plain text or an array of text blocks.

temperature

number<float>

Required range: 0 <= x <= 1

top_p

number<float>

Required range: 0 <= x <= 1

top_k

integer

Only sample from the top K options for each subsequent token.

stop_sequences

string[]

stream

boolean

When true, respond with server-sent events.

tools

object[]

Show child attributes

tool_choice

object

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4

Show child attributes

metadata

object

Show child attributes

thinking

object

Legacy budget-based thinking; budget_tokens maps to the nearest llm-api reasoning-effort tier.

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3

Show child attributes

service_tier

enum<string>

Accepted and ignored — llm-api's service_tier is OpenAI-only.

Available options:

auto,

standard_only

cache_control

object

Ephemeral cache breakpoint. ttl "1h" is rejected until 1h writes are billed distinctly (they price 2x the 5m rate).

Show child attributes

output_config

object

Show child attributes

context_management

object

Accepted and ignored — context edits are not applied. Kept raw so evolving strategies decode.

container

any

Rejected by validation — no code-execution containers.

inference_geo

string

Rejected by validation — geo pinning cannot be honored, silently ignoring it would break residency expectations.

mcp_servers

any

Rejected by validation — no server-side MCP execution.

speed

enum<string>

"standard" is inert; "fast" is rejected (no fast-mode routing).

Available options:

standard,

fast

fallbacks

any

Rejected by validation — fallback models would bill as the requested slug.

fallback_credit_token

string

Rejected by validation together with fallbacks.

Response

Successful response. JSON for non-streaming requests; a text/event-stream of typed events (message_start through message_stop) when stream is true.

Non-streaming response body and the message_start payload.

string

required

type

enum<string>

required

Available options:

message

role

enum<string>

required

Available options:

assistant

model

string

required

content

object[]

required

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3

Show child attributes

stop_reason

enum<string> | null

required

Available options:

end_turn,

max_tokens,

stop_sequence,

tool_use,

pause_turn,

refusal,

model_context_window_exceeded

stop_sequence

string | null

required

usage

object

required

Show child attributes

⌘I

Router API

Agent API

Search API

Embeddings API

Legacy API

Authentication

Analytics API

Create Message

Authorizations

Body

Response