feat: support freshness parameter for Perplexity web_search provider (#15343)

Merged via /review-pr -> /prepare-pr -> /merge-pr.

Prepared head SHA: 01aba2bfba
Co-authored-by: echoVic <16428813+echoVic@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: sebslight <19554889+sebslight@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @sebslight

.gitignore

@@ -83,3 +83,4 @@ USER.md
 .agent/*.json
 !.agent/workflows/
 local/
+package-lock.json

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Cron: add regression coverage for announce-mode isolated jobs so runs that already report `delivered: true` do not enqueue duplicate main-session relays, including delivery configs where `mode` is omitted and defaults to announce. (#15737) Thanks @brandonwise.
 - Cron: honor `deleteAfterRun` in isolated announce delivery by mapping it to subagent announce cleanup mode, so cron run sessions configured for deletion are removed after completion. (#15368) Thanks @arosstale.
 - Web tools/web_fetch: prefer `text/markdown` responses for Cloudflare Markdown for Agents, add `cf-markdown` extraction for markdown bodies, and redact fetched URLs in `x-markdown-tokens` debug logs to avoid leaking raw paths/query params. (#15376) Thanks @Yaxuan42.
+- Tools/web_search: support `freshness` for the Perplexity provider by mapping `pd`/`pw`/`pm`/`py` to Perplexity `search_recency_filter` values and including freshness in the Perplexity cache key. (#15343) Thanks @echoVic.
 - Clawdock: avoid Zsh readonly variable collisions in helper scripts. (#15501) Thanks @nkelner.
 - Memory: switch default local embedding model to the QAT `embeddinggemma-300m-qat-Q8_0` variant for better quality at the same footprint. (#15429) Thanks @azade-c.
 - Docs/Mermaid: remove hardcoded Mermaid init theme blocks from four docs diagrams so dark mode inherits readable theme defaults. (#15157) Thanks @heytulsiprasad.

docs/tools/web.md

@@ -175,7 +175,9 @@ Search the web using your configured provider.
 - `country` (optional): 2-letter country code for region-specific results (e.g., "DE", "US", "ALL"). If omitted, Brave chooses its default region.
 - `search_lang` (optional): ISO language code for search results (e.g., "de", "en", "fr")
 - `ui_lang` (optional): ISO language code for UI elements
-- `freshness` (optional, Brave only): filter by discovery time (`pd`, `pw`, `pm`, `py`, or `YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD`)
+- `freshness` (optional): filter by discovery time
+  - Brave: `pd`, `pw`, `pm`, `py`, or `YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD`
+  - Perplexity: `pd`, `pw`, `pm`, `py`
 
 **Examples:**
 

src/agents/tools/web-search.e2e.test.ts

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ const {
   isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl,
   resolvePerplexityRequestModel,
   normalizeFreshness,
+  freshnessToPerplexityRecency,
   resolveGrokApiKey,
   resolveGrokModel,
   resolveGrokInlineCitations,
@@ -128,6 +129,24 @@ describe("web_search freshness normalization", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("freshnessToPerplexityRecency", () => {
+  it("maps Brave shortcuts to Perplexity recency values", () => {
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("pd")).toBe("day");
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("pw")).toBe("week");
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("pm")).toBe("month");
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("py")).toBe("year");
+  });
+
+  it("returns undefined for date ranges (not supported by Perplexity)", () => {
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("2024-01-01to2024-01-31")).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("returns undefined for undefined/empty input", () => {
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency(undefined)).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(freshnessToPerplexityRecency("")).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
+
 describe("web_search grok config resolution", () => {
   it("uses config apiKey when provided", () => {
     expect(resolveGrokApiKey({ apiKey: "xai-test-key" })).toBe("xai-test-key");

src/agents/tools/web-search.ts

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ const WebSearchSchema = Type.Object({
   freshness: Type.Optional(
     Type.String({
       description:
-        "Filter results by discovery time (Brave only). Values: 'pd' (past 24h), 'pw' (past week), 'pm' (past month), 'py' (past year), or date range 'YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD'.",
+        "Filter results by discovery time. Brave supports 'pd', 'pw', 'pm', 'py', and date range 'YYYY-MM-DDtoYYYY-MM-DD'. Perplexity supports 'pd', 'pw', 'pm', and 'py'.",
     }),
   ),
 });
@@ -403,6 +403,23 @@ function normalizeFreshness(value: string | undefined): string | undefined {
   return `${start}to${end}`;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Map normalized freshness values (pd/pw/pm/py) to Perplexity's
+ * search_recency_filter values (day/week/month/year).
+ */
+function freshnessToPerplexityRecency(freshness: string | undefined): string | undefined {
+  if (!freshness) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const map: Record<string, string> = {
+    pd: "day",
+    pw: "week",
+    pm: "month",
+    py: "year",
+  };
+  return map[freshness] ?? undefined;
+}
+
 function isValidIsoDate(value: string): boolean {
   if (!/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/.test(value)) {
     return false;
@@ -435,11 +452,27 @@ async function runPerplexitySearch(params: {
   baseUrl: string;
   model: string;
   timeoutSeconds: number;
+  freshness?: string;
 }): Promise<{ content: string; citations: string[] }> {
   const baseUrl = params.baseUrl.trim().replace(/\/$/, "");
   const endpoint = `${baseUrl}/chat/completions`;
   const model = resolvePerplexityRequestModel(baseUrl, params.model);
 
+  const body: Record<string, unknown> = {
+    model,
+    messages: [
+      {
+        role: "user",
+        content: params.query,
+      },
+    ],
+  };
+
+  const recencyFilter = freshnessToPerplexityRecency(params.freshness);
+  if (recencyFilter) {
+    body.search_recency_filter = recencyFilter;
+  }
+
   const res = await fetch(endpoint, {
     method: "POST",
     headers: {
@@ -448,15 +481,7 @@ async function runPerplexitySearch(params: {
       "HTTP-Referer": "https://openclaw.ai",
       "X-Title": "OpenClaw Web Search",
     },
-    body: JSON.stringify({
-      model,
-      messages: [
-        {
-          role: "user",
-          content: params.query,
-        },
-      ],
-    }),
+    body: JSON.stringify(body),
     signal: withTimeout(undefined, params.timeoutSeconds * 1000),
   });
 
@@ -544,7 +569,7 @@ async function runWebSearch(params: {
     params.provider === "brave"
       ? `${params.provider}:${params.query}:${params.count}:${params.country || "default"}:${params.search_lang || "default"}:${params.ui_lang || "default"}:${params.freshness || "default"}`
       : params.provider === "perplexity"
-        ? `${params.provider}:${params.query}:${params.perplexityBaseUrl ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL}:${params.perplexityModel ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_MODEL}`
+        ? `${params.provider}:${params.query}:${params.perplexityBaseUrl ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL}:${params.perplexityModel ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_MODEL}:${params.freshness || "default"}`
         : `${params.provider}:${params.query}:${params.grokModel ?? DEFAULT_GROK_MODEL}:${String(params.grokInlineCitations ?? false)}`,
   );
   const cached = readCache(SEARCH_CACHE, cacheKey);
@@ -561,6 +586,7 @@ async function runWebSearch(params: {
       baseUrl: params.perplexityBaseUrl ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_BASE_URL,
       model: params.perplexityModel ?? DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_MODEL,
       timeoutSeconds: params.timeoutSeconds,
+      freshness: params.freshness,
     });
 
     const payload = {
@@ -722,10 +748,10 @@ export function createWebSearchTool(options?: {
       const search_lang = readStringParam(params, "search_lang");
       const ui_lang = readStringParam(params, "ui_lang");
       const rawFreshness = readStringParam(params, "freshness");
-      if (rawFreshness && provider !== "brave") {
+      if (rawFreshness && provider !== "brave" && provider !== "perplexity") {
         return jsonResult({
           error: "unsupported_freshness",
-          message: "freshness is only supported by the Brave web_search provider.",
+          message: "freshness is only supported by the Brave and Perplexity web_search providers.",
           docs: "https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/web",
         });
       }
@@ -769,6 +795,7 @@ export const __testing = {
   isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl,
   resolvePerplexityRequestModel,
   normalizeFreshness,
+  freshnessToPerplexityRecency,
   resolveGrokApiKey,
   resolveGrokModel,
   resolveGrokInlineCitations,

src/agents/tools/web-tools.enabled-defaults.e2e.test.ts

@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ describe("web_search perplexity baseUrl defaults", () => {
     expect(body.model).toBe("sonar-pro");
   });
 
-  it("rejects freshness for Perplexity provider", async () => {
+  it("passes freshness to Perplexity provider as search_recency_filter", async () => {
     vi.stubEnv("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY", "pplx-test");
     const mockFetch = vi.fn(() =>
       Promise.resolve({
@@ -174,10 +174,11 @@ describe("web_search perplexity baseUrl defaults", () => {
       config: { tools: { web: { search: { provider: "perplexity" } } } },
       sandboxed: true,
     });
-    const result = await tool?.execute?.(1, { query: "test", freshness: "pw" });
+    await tool?.execute?.(1, { query: "perplexity-freshness-test", freshness: "pw" });
 
-    expect(mockFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
-    expect(result?.details).toMatchObject({ error: "unsupported_freshness" });
+    expect(mockFetch).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    const body = JSON.parse(mockFetch.mock.calls[0][1].body as string);
+    expect(body.search_recency_filter).toBe("week");
   });
 
   it("defaults to OpenRouter when OPENROUTER_API_KEY is set", async () => {