📋 MCP Setup Guide: Connecting Two MCP Servers to Perplexity (Local + Remote)

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📋 MCP Setup Guide: Connecting Two MCP Servers to Perplexity

Status: Local MCP (Mac app) — available now · Remote MCP — coming soon
Audience: Developers and agents working on IGLA RACE / Trinity swarm
Platform: macOS (Mac App Store), Perplexity Pro account required

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🌐 What is MCP in Perplexity context?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets Perplexity connect to external tools, APIs, and services. Think of it as a universal adapter: each MCP server exposes tools that Perplexity can call during a conversation.

Two types:

Type	Where it runs	Auth	Status
Local MCP	Your Mac (stdio)	none / local	✅ Available now
Remote MCP	Cloud (HTTP/SSE)	Bearer token	🔜 Coming soon

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🔧 SETUP: Two MCP Servers in Perplexity (Mac App)

Prerequisites

# 1. Install Node.js (required for npx commands)
brew install node

# 2. Install Perplexity Mac App from Mac App Store
# https://apps.apple.com/app/perplexity-ask-anything/id1668000334

# 3. Perplexity Pro subscription required

Step 1 — Install PerplexityXPC Helper

Perplexity App → Settings → Connectors → Install Helper (PerplexityXPC)

This helper allows Perplexity to securely communicate with local MCP servers on your machine.

Step 2 — Add First MCP Server (GitHub / trios)

Settings → Connectors → Add Connector → Simple tab

Field	Value
Server Name	trios-github
Command	npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github
Env var	GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here

Or via Advanced JSON tab:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
  "env": {
    "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
  }
}

Step 3 — Add Second MCP Server (Linear / trios-railway)

Settings → Connectors → Add Connector → Simple tab

Field	Value
Server Name	trios-linear
Command	npx -y @linear/mcp-server
Env var	LINEAR_API_KEY=lin_api_your_key_here

Or via Advanced JSON tab:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@linear/mcp-server"],
  "env": {
    "LINEAR_API_KEY": "lin_api_your_key_here"
  }
}

Step 4 — Verify Both Servers Are Running

Settings → Connectors → check "Running" status (green dot)

Both servers must show "Running" before use.

Step 5 — Enable in Chat

Perplexity homepage → under "Sources" → toggle ON each connector

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🔮 REMOTE MCP Setup (coming soon — for trios-mcp server)

When Remote MCP launches, trios-mcp deployed on Railway will connect directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trios-mcp": {
      "url": "https://trios-mcp.railway.app/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_MCP_AUTH_BEARER_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

This will expose all 13 IGLA RACE tools:

• mcp.railway.deploy — deploy trainer service
• mcp.hunt.* — seed hunter operations
• mcp.exp.next / mcp.exp.claim — EXP_ID management
• mcp.leaderboard.rank — BPB leaderboard
• mcp.smoke.race — Gate-0 smoke run
• mcp.github.issue / mcp.github.pr — GitHub ops

---

🛠️ ALTERNATIVE: Claude Desktop (works today with Remote MCP)

For immediate use with trios-mcp remote server via Claude Desktop:

// ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trios-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/inspector-cli",
        "https://trios-mcp.railway.app/sse"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_AUTH_BEARER": "your_64_char_token"
      }
    },
    "trios-github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after editing → both servers appear in the tool picker.

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🖥️ Cursor / Continue.dev Config

// .cursor/mcp.json (repo root)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trios-mcp": {
      "url": "https://trios-mcp.railway.app/sse",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" }
    },
    "trios-github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token" }
    }
  }
}

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✅ Testing Checklist

[ ] PerplexityXPC helper installed
[ ] Server 1 (trios-github) shows "Running" in Connectors
[ ] Server 2 (trios-linear) shows "Running" in Connectors  
[ ] Both toggled ON under "Sources"
[ ] Test: "Create a GitHub issue in gHashTag/trios"
[ ] Test: "List my Linear issues"
[ ] Verify tool calls appear in activity log

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🔑 Where to Get Tokens

Service	Token Location	Used For
GitHub	https://github.com/settings/tokens → repo scope	trios-github MCP
Linear	https://linear.app/settings/api → Personal API Key	trios-linear MCP
Railway	https://railway.app/account/tokens	trios-mcp server (acc1/acc2/acc3)
Perplexity API	https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api	Perplexity MCP server

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📚 Related Resources

• Perplexity MCP Help Center
• Official Perplexity MCP Server
• MCP Server Catalog
• trios-mcp Architecture → Issue #331
• IGLA RACE Master Rules → Issue #331

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⚠️ Security note: Never commit API tokens to the repo. Use env vars or .env files in .gitignore. All docs and code in this repo must be written in English.

φ² + φ⁻² = 3 · TRINITY · MCP-ONLY

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MCP Setup Guide exists at docs/mcp/MCP_SETUP_GUIDE.md. Infrastructure status documented in docs/mcp-status.md. Closing.