Configure Perplexity CI/CD integration with GitHub Actions and testing.
Use when setting up automated testing, configuring CI pipelines,
or integrating Perplexity tests into your build process.
Trigger with phrases like "perplexity CI", "perplexity GitHub Actions",
"perplexity automated tests", "CI perplexity".
Set up CI/CD pipelines for Perplexity Sonar API integrations. Key CI concerns: live API calls cost money (use mocks for unit tests, reserve live calls for integration tests), API keys must be in GitHub Secrets, and rate limits apply even in CI.
Prerequisites
GitHub repository with Actions enabled
Perplexity API key for CI (separate from production)
Test suite with mocked and live test separation
Instructions
Step 1: Configure GitHub Secret
set -euo pipefail
# Store API key as a GitHub secret
gh secret set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY --body "pplx-your-ci-key-here"
Step 2: GitHub Actions Workflow
# .github/workflows/perplexity-tests.yml
name: Perplexity Integration Tests
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
unit-tests:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: "20"
cache: "npm"
- run: npm ci
- run: npm test -- --coverage
# Unit tests use mocked responses — no API key needed
integration-tests:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: unit-tests
if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
env:
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY }}
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: "20"
cache: "npm"
- run: npm ci
- name: Run live Perplexity integration tests
run: npm run test:integration
timeout-minutes: 5
// tests/perplexity.integration.test.ts — runs on main only, uses live API
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
const LIVE = !!process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY;
describe.skipIf(!LIVE)("Perplexity Live API", () => {
it("sonar returns answer with citations", async () => {
const { search } = await import("../src/perplexity/search");
const result = await search("What is TypeScript?", {
model: "sonar",
maxTokens: 100,
});
expect(result.answer).toBeTruthy();
expect(result.citations.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
expect(result.usage.totalTokens).toBeGreaterThan(0);
}, 15000);
it("search_domain_filter restricts sources", async () => {
const { search } = await import("../src/perplexity/search");
const result = await search("Python latest release", {
model: "sonar",
maxTokens: 100,
searchDomainFilter: ["python.org"],
});
expect(result.citations.some((url: string) => url.includes("python.org"))).toBe(true);
}, 15000);
});
Step 4: Cost-Aware CI
# Only run live tests on main branch pushes (not every PR)
# Budget: ~$0.01 per test run (2 sonar queries at $0.005 each)
# Monthly estimate: 30 pushes/month = $0.30
# Add a weekly full integration test
weekly-integration:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
if: github.event.schedule == '0 6 * * 1'
env:
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY }}
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: "20"
- run: npm ci
- run: npm run test:integration:full
timeout-minutes: 10
Error Handling
Issue
Cause
Solution
Secret not found
Missing GitHub secret
Run gh secret set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY
Integration tests timeout
Complex sonar-pro queries
Use sonar with max_tokens: 100 in CI
429 in CI
Parallel jobs hitting rate limit
Serialize integration tests
High CI costs
Running live tests on every PR
Gate live tests on main branch only
Output
Unit test suite with mocked Perplexity responses (runs on every PR)
Integration test suite with live API (runs on main pushes)
