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Perplexica provides a settings UI where you can configure application preferences, personalization options, and manage your LLM providers.

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Accessing settings

To access the settings:
  1. Click the settings icon in the Perplexica interface
  2. Or navigate directly to /settings in your browser
On first launch, Perplexica displays a setup screen where you configure initial settings. You can always modify these later through the settings UI.

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Preferences

Customize the application appearance and behavior.

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Theme

Choose between light and dark mode.
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theme
select
default:"dark"
Visual theme for the applicationOptions:
  • Light
  • Dark
Default: Dark

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Measurement unit

Set your preferred measurement system for weather and other data.
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measureUnit
select
default:"Metric"
Measurement system for displaying dataOptions:
  • Imperial (Fahrenheit, miles, pounds)
  • Metric (Celsius, kilometers, kilograms)
Default: Metric
Automatically search for relevant visual content.
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autoMediaSearch
boolean
default:true
When enabled, Perplexica automatically searches for relevant images and videos based on your queryDefault: Enabled
Disabling auto media search can speed up responses if you primarily need text-based results.

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Show weather widget

Display weather information on the home screen.
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showWeatherWidget
boolean
default:true
Shows a weather card on the home screen with current conditionsDefault: Enabled

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Show news widget

Display recent news on the home screen.
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showNewsWidget
boolean
default:true
Shows a news card on the home screen with recent headlinesDefault: Enabled

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Personalization

Customize how the AI responds to your queries.

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System instructions

Add custom behavior or tone for the model.
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systemInstructions
textarea
Custom instructions that modify how the AI respondsExamples:
  • “Respond in a friendly and concise tone”
  • “Use British English and format answers as bullet points”
  • “Always provide sources and explain technical terms simply”
  • “Be more formal and detailed in responses”
Concise responses:
Keep all responses brief and to the point. Use bullet points when listing items.
Academic style:
Respond in an academic tone with proper citations. Explain concepts thoroughly
and include relevant background information.
Code-focused:
When discussing programming topics, always include code examples. Prefer
Python and JavaScript examples when possible.
Beginner-friendly:
Explain technical concepts in simple terms that a beginner can understand.
Avoid jargon and provide analogies when helpful.
System instructions are applied to all searches and chats. They persist across sessions until you modify them.

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Search configuration

Configure the search engine backend.

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SearXNG URL

Set the URL for your SearxNG instance.
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searxngURL
string
The URL of your SearxNG instanceExample: http://localhost:8080Default: Auto-configured if using bundled SearxNG
If you’re using the standard Perplexica Docker image with bundled SearxNG, you should not need to modify this setting.
See SearxNG configuration for detailed setup instructions.

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Model providers

Manage your LLM providers and models.

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View configured providers

The settings UI displays all configured providers with:
  • Provider name and type
  • Available chat models
  • Available embedding models
  • Connection status

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Add a provider

1

Click Add Provider

In the settings UI, click the “Add Provider” button
2

Select provider type

Choose from:
  • Ollama
  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic
  • Gemini
  • Groq
  • LM Studio
  • Lemonade
  • Transformers
3

Configure settings

Enter the required configuration:
  • API keys (for cloud providers)
  • Base URLs (for local/custom endpoints)
  • Provider name (to identify multiple instances)
4

Test connection

Perplexica automatically tests the connection and fetches available models
5

Save

Save the provider configuration

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Edit a provider

  1. Find the provider in the settings list
  2. Click “Edit”
  3. Modify the configuration
  4. Save changes
Editing a provider re-tests the connection and refreshes the available models list.

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Remove a provider

  1. Find the provider in the settings list
  2. Click “Delete” or “Remove”
  3. Confirm deletion
Removing a provider makes its models unavailable. Searches configured to use models from this provider will fail.

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Add custom models

For providers that don’t auto-detect all models:
  1. Select the provider
  2. Click “Add Custom Model”
  3. Enter:
    • Model Name: Display name
    • Model Key: API identifier
    • Type: Chat or Embedding
  4. Save the model
See Models and providers for provider-specific configuration details.

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Search modes

While not configurable in settings, Perplexica offers three search modes you can select per query:
Best for: Quick answers and simple questions
  • Fastest response time
  • Uses lighter models
  • Suitable for straightforward queries
Best for: Everyday searches
  • Good balance of speed and quality
  • Recommended for most queries
  • Default mode
Best for: Deep research and complex topics
  • Most thorough responses
  • Uses more powerful models
  • Takes longer but provides detailed answers

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Focus modes

Perplexica supports different focus modes for specialized searches:
  • All - General web search
  • Academic - Search academic papers and scholarly sources
  • Writing - Optimized for content creation and writing assistance
  • Wolfram Alpha - Mathematical and computational queries
  • YouTube - Video search
  • Reddit - Search Reddit discussions
Focus modes are selected per search and are not configured in settings.

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Data and privacy

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Search history

Perplexica stores your search history locally:
  • All searches are saved in your browser’s local storage
  • History persists across sessions
  • You can view past searches in the Library
  • No search data is sent to external servers (except for API calls to your configured LLM providers)
Your searches are completely private when using local LLM providers like Ollama.

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File uploads

Uploaded files are stored:
  • In the Docker volume mounted at /home/perplexica/uploads
  • Files persist across container restarts
  • Supported formats: PDF, text files, images

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Configuration persistence

All settings are stored in:
  • Location: /home/perplexica/data/config.json
  • Persistence: Stored in Docker volume perplexica-data
  • Backup: Automatically saved when modified
If you remove the Docker volume, all settings will be lost and you’ll need to reconfigure Perplexica.

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Environment variables override

Settings configured via environment variables:
  • Take precedence over UI settings on startup
  • Are automatically applied when the container starts
  • Create provider entries in the configuration
  • Can be viewed but not edited through the UI (edit the environment variables instead)
See Environment variables for details.

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Exporting and importing configuration

To backup or migrate your configuration:

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Export configuration

# Copy from Docker volume
docker cp perplexica:/home/perplexica/data/config.json ./config-backup.json

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Import configuration

# Copy to Docker volume
docker cp ./config-backup.json perplexica:/home/perplexica/data/config.json
# Restart container
docker restart perplexica

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Next steps

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