Agent skill
perplexity-data-handling
Implement Perplexity query sanitization, citation validation, result caching, and conversation context management for search workflows. Trigger with phrases like "perplexity data", "perplexity PII", "perplexity citations", "perplexity cache", "perplexity context".
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/tree/main/plugins/saas-packs/perplexity-pack/skills/perplexity-data-handling
SKILL.md
Perplexity Data Handling
Overview
Manage data flowing through Perplexity Sonar API. Critical concern: queries are sent to Perplexity for web search, so any PII in queries is exposed to external infrastructure. Responses contain citations (third-party URLs) that must be validated before displaying to users.
Data Flow
User Input → Query Sanitization → Perplexity API → Response Parsing
│
┌─────────────┼──────────────┐
│ │ │
Answer Text Citations Search Results
│ │ │
Format & Validate & Store for
Display Deduplicate Analytics
Prerequisites
- Perplexity API key configured
- Understanding of PII regulations (GDPR/CCPA)
- Cache storage (Redis or in-memory)
Instructions
Step 1: Query Sanitization
function sanitizeQuery(query: string): { clean: string; redacted: boolean } {
let clean = query;
let redacted = false;
const patterns: Array<[RegExp, string]> = [
[/\b[\w.+-]+@[\w-]+\.[\w.]+\b/g, "[email]"],
[/\b\d{3}[-.]?\d{3}[-.]?\d{4}\b/g, "[phone]"],
[/\b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b/g, "[ssn]"],
[/\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}\b/g, "[card]"],
[/\b(pplx-|sk-|pk_|sk_live_)\w{20,}\b/g, "[token]"],
[/\b(user|customer|account)\s*#?\s*\d+\b/gi, "[id]"],
];
for (const [pattern, replacement] of patterns) {
if (pattern.test(clean)) {
clean = clean.replace(pattern, replacement);
redacted = true;
}
}
return { clean, redacted };
}
async function safeSearch(rawQuery: string) {
const { clean, redacted } = sanitizeQuery(rawQuery);
if (redacted) {
console.warn("[Data] PII redacted from Perplexity query");
}
return perplexity.chat.completions.create({
model: "sonar",
messages: [{ role: "user", content: clean }],
});
}
Step 2: Citation Validation
interface ValidatedCitation {
url: string;
domain: string;
valid: boolean;
index: number;
}
function validateCitations(citations: string[]): ValidatedCitation[] {
return citations.map((url, i) => {
try {
const parsed = new URL(url);
return {
url: url.replace(/[.,;:]+$/, ""),
domain: parsed.hostname,
valid: ["http:", "https:"].includes(parsed.protocol),
index: i + 1,
};
} catch {
return { url, domain: "unknown", valid: false, index: i + 1 };
}
});
}
function deduplicateCitations(citations: ValidatedCitation[]): ValidatedCitation[] {
const seen = new Set<string>();
return citations.filter((c) => {
const normalized = c.url.split("?")[0].replace(/\/$/, "");
if (seen.has(normalized)) return false;
seen.add(normalized);
return true;
});
}
// Replace [1] markers with linked citations
function renderCitations(answer: string, citations: ValidatedCitation[]): string {
let rendered = answer;
for (const c of citations.filter((c) => c.valid)) {
rendered = rendered.replaceAll(`[${c.index}]`, `[${c.index}](${c.url})`);
}
return rendered;
}
Step 3: Result Caching with Freshness Policy
import { LRUCache } from "lru-cache";
import { createHash } from "crypto";
interface CachedResult {
answer: string;
citations: ValidatedCitation[];
cachedAt: number;
model: string;
}
const CACHE_TTL: Record<string, number> = {
news: 30 * 60_000, // 30 min for breaking/current events
research: 4 * 3600_000, // 4 hours for research topics
factual: 24 * 3600_000, // 24 hours for stable facts
default: 1 * 3600_000, // 1 hour default
};
const resultCache = new LRUCache<string, CachedResult>({ max: 500 });
function detectQueryType(query: string): keyof typeof CACHE_TTL {
if (/\b(latest|today|breaking|recent|this week)\b/i.test(query)) return "news";
if (/\b(research|study|paper|analysis|compare)\b/i.test(query)) return "research";
if (/\b(what is|define|how does|who is)\b/i.test(query)) return "factual";
return "default";
}
async function cachedSearch(query: string, model = "sonar") {
const hash = createHash("sha256")
.update(`${model}:${query.toLowerCase().trim()}`)
.digest("hex");
const cached = resultCache.get(hash);
if (cached) return { ...cached, fromCache: true };
const response = await safeSearch(query);
const rawCitations = (response as any).citations || [];
const citations = deduplicateCitations(validateCitations(rawCitations));
const queryType = detectQueryType(query);
const entry: CachedResult = {
answer: response.choices[0].message.content || "",
citations,
cachedAt: Date.now(),
model: response.model,
};
resultCache.set(hash, entry, { ttl: CACHE_TTL[queryType] });
return { ...entry, fromCache: false };
}
Step 4: Conversation Context Management
import OpenAI from "openai";
type Message = OpenAI.ChatCompletionMessageParam;
class SearchContext {
private messages: Message[] = [];
private readonly maxMessages = 10;
private readonly maxEstimatedTokens = 8000;
constructor(systemPrompt?: string) {
if (systemPrompt) {
this.messages.push({ role: "system", content: systemPrompt });
}
}
addUserMessage(content: string) {
this.messages.push({ role: "user", content });
this.trim();
}
addAssistantMessage(content: string) {
this.messages.push({ role: "assistant", content });
this.trim();
}
getMessages(): Message[] {
return [...this.messages];
}
private trim() {
// Keep system prompt + last N messages
while (this.messages.length > this.maxMessages) {
const systemIdx = this.messages[0].role === "system" ? 1 : 0;
this.messages.splice(systemIdx, 1);
}
// Trim if estimated tokens too high
while (this.estimateTokens() > this.maxEstimatedTokens && this.messages.length > 2) {
const systemIdx = this.messages[0].role === "system" ? 1 : 0;
this.messages.splice(systemIdx, 1);
}
}
private estimateTokens(): number {
return this.messages.reduce(
(sum, m) => sum + Math.ceil(String(m.content).length / 4),
0
);
}
clear() {
const system = this.messages.find((m) => m.role === "system");
this.messages = system ? [system] : [];
}
}
Error Handling
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| PII in search query | User entered personal data | Apply sanitizeQuery before API call |
| Broken citation URLs | Source page moved/deleted | Validate URLs, filter invalid ones |
| Stale cached results | TTL too long for news | Use query-type-aware TTL |
| Context overflow | Too many conversation turns | Automatic trimming in SearchContext |
| Duplicate citations | Same source cited multiple times | Deduplicate by normalized URL |
Output
- Query sanitization stripping PII before API calls
- Citation validation and deduplication
- Cache with query-type-aware TTL
- Conversation context with automatic trimming
Resources
Next Steps
For access control, see perplexity-enterprise-rbac.
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