---

name: perplexity-performance-tuning description: | Optimize Perplexity API performance with caching, batching, and connection pooling. Use when experiencing slow API responses, implementing caching strategies, or optimizing request throughput for Perplexity integrations. Trigger with phrases like "perplexity performance", "optimize perplexity", "perplexity latency", "perplexity caching", "perplexity slow", "perplexity batch". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io

Perplexity Performance Tuning

Overview

Optimize Perplexity API performance with caching, batching, and connection pooling.

Prerequisites

• Perplexity SDK installed
• Understanding of async patterns
• Redis or in-memory cache available (optional)
• Performance monitoring in place

Latency Benchmarks

Caching Strategy

Response Caching

Copyimport { LRUCache } from 'lru-cache';

const cache = new LRUCache<string, any>({
  max: 1000,
  ttl: 60000, // 1 minute
  updateAgeOnGet: true,
});

async function cachedPerplexityRequest<T>(
  key: string,
  fetcher: () => Promise<T>,
  ttl?: number
): Promise<T> {
  const cached = cache.get(key);
  if (cached) return cached as T;

  const result = await fetcher();
  cache.set(key, result, { ttl });
  return result;
}

Redis Caching (Distributed)

Copyimport Redis from 'ioredis';

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL);

async function cachedWithRedis<T>(
  key: string,
  fetcher: () => Promise<T>,
  ttlSeconds = 60
): Promise<T> {
  const cached = await redis.get(key);
  if (cached) return JSON.parse(cached);

  const result = await fetcher();
  await redis.setex(key, ttlSeconds, JSON.stringify(result));
  return result;
}

Request Batching

Copyimport DataLoader from 'dataloader';

const perplexityLoader = new DataLoader<string, any>(
  async (ids) => {
    // Batch fetch from Perplexity
    const results = await perplexityClient.batchGet(ids);
    return ids.map(id => results.find(r => r.id === id) || null);
  },
  {
    maxBatchSize: 100,
    batchScheduleFn: callback => setTimeout(callback, 10),
  }
);

// Usage - automatically batched
const [item1, item2, item3] = await Promise.all([
  perplexityLoader.load('id-1'),
  perplexityLoader.load('id-2'),
  perplexityLoader.load('id-3'),
]);

Connection Optimization

Copyimport { Agent } from 'https';

// Keep-alive connection pooling
const agent = new Agent({
  keepAlive: true,
  maxSockets: 10,
  maxFreeSockets: 5,
  timeout: 30000,
});

const client = new PerplexityClient({
  apiKey: process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY!,
  httpAgent: agent,
});

Pagination Optimization

Copyasync function* paginatedPerplexityList<T>(
  fetcher: (cursor?: string) => Promise<{ data: T[]; nextCursor?: string }>
): AsyncGenerator<T> {
  let cursor: string | undefined;

  do {
    const { data, nextCursor } = await fetcher(cursor);
    for (const item of data) {
      yield item;
    }
    cursor = nextCursor;
  } while (cursor);
}

// Usage
for await (const item of paginatedPerplexityList(cursor =>
  perplexityClient.list({ cursor, limit: 100 })
)) {
  await process(item);
}

Performance Monitoring

Copyasync function measuredPerplexityCall<T>(
  operation: string,
  fn: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  const start = performance.now();
  try {
    const result = await fn();
    const duration = performance.now() - start;
    console.log({ operation, duration, status: 'success' });
    return result;
  } catch (error) {
    const duration = performance.now() - start;
    console.error({ operation, duration, status: 'error', error });
    throw error;
  }
}

Instructions

Step 1: Establish Baseline

Measure current latency for critical Perplexity operations.

Step 2: Implement Caching

Add response caching for frequently accessed data.

Step 3: Enable Batching

Use DataLoader or similar for automatic request batching.

Step 4: Optimize Connections

Configure connection pooling with keep-alive.

Output

• Reduced API latency
• Caching layer implemented
• Request batching enabled
• Connection pooling configured

Error Handling

Examples

Quick Performance Wrapper

Copyconst withPerformance = <T>(name: string, fn: () => Promise<T>) =>
  measuredPerplexityCall(name, () =>
    cachedPerplexityRequest(`cache:${name}`, fn)
  );

Resources

• Perplexity Performance Guide
• DataLoader Documentation
• LRU Cache Documentation

Next Steps

For cost optimization, see perplexity-cost-tuning.