Add HTTP Transport Support

[kesku]

Summary

Migrates the Perplexity MCP Server to support both STDIO and HTTP transports while maintaining backward compatibility. Users can continue using npx @perplexity-ai/mcp-server unchanged, while gaining the ability to deploy as HTTP servers for session based cloud/remote access

Changes

• **Migrated to McpServer API
• Separate entry points - src/index.ts (STDIO), src/http.ts (HTTP), src/server.ts (shared core)
• StreamableHTTP transport with full session management and SSE support
• Express server with CORS, health checks, error handling

Misc

Deployment Options

Local/Development (Unchanged):

npx @perplexity-ai/mcp-server  # Works exactly as before

HTTP/Cloud (New):

# Docker
docker run -p 8080:8080 -e PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=key perplexity-mcp-server

# Node.js
npm run start:http

This migration enables the Perplexity MCP Server to scale from local developer tools to enterprise cloud deployments while maintaining full compatibility with existing users.

---

Note

Adds HTTP transport (Express + StreamableHTTP) alongside STDIO, refactors to a shared McpServer core, updates Docker/docs/tests, and bumps to v0.5.0.

• Core Refactor
  • Migrate to McpServer API with shared core in src/server.ts; split entry points: src/index.ts (STDIO) and src/http.ts (HTTP).
  • Remove monolithic index.ts; add zod-typed tool schemas and keep existing tools (perplexity_ask, perplexity_research, perplexity_reason, perplexity_search).
• HTTP Transport
  • Implement StreamableHTTP transport with session management (SSE), CORS, JSON handling, and /health in src/http.ts.
• Docker/Deployment
  • Update Dockerfile to build runtime for HTTP (EXPOSE 8080, entrypoint dist/http.js).
  • Add smithery.yaml; expand HTTP deployment docs in README.md and DOCKER.md.
• Build/Config
  • Bump version to 0.5.0; update server.json and .claude-plugin/marketplace.json.
  • Adjust package.json scripts (start:http, dev scripts), publish files list, and add deps: express, cors, zod, tsx.
  • Update tsconfig.json (target ES2020, rootDir=src).
• Tests/CI
  • Add src/transport.test.ts; update tests to new module paths; set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY in CI workflow.

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Bug: Server instance improperly shared across sessions.

The mcpServer instance is created once at module level but mcpServer.connect(transport) is called for each new session. This causes a single server instance to be connected to multiple transports simultaneously, which can lead to message routing errors, resource leaks, and state corruption. Each transport should have its own dedicated server instance, or the server should be created once and never reconnected.