The Carbon Arc Connector lets eligible users connect Perplexity to Carbon Arc data, so they can ask natural-language questions about authorized Carbon Arc datasets.
To use this connector, you need an active Carbon Arc account and subscription. You also need a Perplexity Pro account to use the Carbon Arc MCP connector with Perplexity.
Carbon Arc also maintains its own Perplexity setup guide and MCP FAQs:
Use the steps below for the Perplexity connector flow. You do not need to configure a manual server address.
What you need before you start
A Perplexity Pro account with access to Connectors.
An active Carbon Arc account and subscription.
Your Carbon Arc account credentials.
Carbon Arc offers Professional, Business, and Enterprise plans. Professional and Business plans are available through self-serve signup on Carbon Arc's Pricing page. Enterprise plans require custom commercial approval and provisioning through Carbon Arc's Sales team.
For eligible Professional and Business signups, Carbon Arc has provided the promo code PERPLEXITY30 for one month of free access.
If you have questions or need help, contact Carbon Arc at support@carbonarc.co.
How to activate it
Open Perplexity.
Go to Settings. You can find Settings under your organization icon in the bottom-left corner of the Perplexity web app.
Open the Connectors settings page.
Search for Carbon Arc.
Click the Carbon Arc connector tile.
Click Add or Enable.
Sign in with your Carbon Arc account credentials. Carbon Arc uses an OAuth-based sign-in flow with SSO.
After the Carbon Arc login finishes, return to Perplexity.
Confirm that the Carbon Arc connector shows as connected.
No separate API key is required for the Perplexity integration.
Trying it out
Once Carbon Arc is connected, start a new query in Perplexity and use Carbon Arc as a source.
You can do this in either of these ways:
Type
@Carbon Arcin your query.Click the + icon in the search box, open Connectors and sources, and select Carbon Arc.
Example questions:
Using Carbon Arc, show me Walmart Credit Card Spend.Using Carbon Arc, what was Walmart's card spend in 2024?Using Carbon Arc, show me available insights for Walmart.Using Carbon Arc, show me the tools available in the Carbon Arc MCP Server.
Use questions that match your Carbon Arc subscription and purchased data access.
Troubleshooting
I do not see the Carbon Arc connector
Check that you are on the correct Perplexity account and organization. If you are in an Enterprise organization, your Perplexity admin may also need to enable the connector for your organization.
I do not have Carbon Arc MCP access
Sign up for Carbon Arc on the Pricing page or contact Carbon Arc's Sales team for Enterprise access.
For questions or troubleshooting, contact support@carbonarc.co.
I am prompted for an API key
The Perplexity integration does not require a separate API key. Use the Carbon Arc connector tile in Perplexity and sign in with your Carbon Arc account credentials.
I can connect, but I do not get the data I expected
Your Carbon Arc subscription controls which data you can access. Try asking for available entities, insights, or tools before asking for a specific metric. You can also review Carbon Arc's MCP FAQs for more detail about available tools and access.
I connected Carbon Arc, but answers are not using it
Start a new query and make sure Carbon Arc is selected as a source. You can use @Carbon Arc in the query or select Carbon Arc from Connectors and sources.