Perplexity + Postal

The research → capture workflow

Perplexity excels at finding answers with citations. Postal excels at organizing what you find. Together, they turn research into actionable tasks and reference notes.

Research in Perplexity

Ask Perplexity anything. Get sourced answers, comparisons, summaries, technical deep-dives.

Capture into Postal

Copy the output and paste into Postal, or use the CLI to capture it with one command. It becomes a task or note on your board.

Act on your findings

Research findings become tasks with context. Track them, assign due dates, and mark them done when you've acted on them.

Three ways to capture research

Pick whichever method fits your workflow. They all end with research on your Postal board.

Method 1: Postal CLI

Recommended

The fastest way to capture research. Copy the key findings from Perplexity and pipe them into Postal's CLI. One command, done.

Quick capture

# Capture a research finding as a note
~/.local/bin/postal "Research: Best practices for React 19 migration - use the new compiler, drop legacy context API, update to async transitions"

# Capture as a task with a label
~/.local/bin/postal --label Research --type task "Evaluate Postgres vs SQLite for the new sync layer"

# Capture with a due date
~/.local/bin/postal --label Research --due 2026-04-01 "Finalize tech stack decision based on Perplexity findings"

The CLI writes directly to your workspace on disk. The task or note appears on your Postal board within ~1 second.

Method 2: Postal's built-in AI

Built-in

Postal has a built-in AI chat with web search capabilities. You can ask it to research a topic directly and it will create the task for you — no copy-paste needed.

In Postal's chat panel

Research the best Node.js ORMs for PostgreSQL
and create a task comparing Prisma, Drizzle, and
Kysely with pros and cons for each.

Postal's AI has web search built in, so you can skip the Perplexity step entirely for many research tasks.

Method 3: Perplexity API

Advanced

If you have a Perplexity API key, you can pipe API responses directly into Postal's CLI. Great for automated research workflows.

Pipe API output to Postal

#!/bin/bash
# Query Perplexity API and capture the response as a Postal note
QUERY="What are the security implications of using JWTs without refresh tokens?"

RESPONSE=$(curl -s https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"model\": \"llama-3.1-sonar-large-128k-online\",
    \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"$QUERY\"}]
  }" | jq -r '.choices[0].message.content')

~/.local/bin/postal --label Research "Research: $QUERY

$RESPONSE"

This pattern works with any research API — Perplexity, Google, or custom search endpoints. The output becomes a rich note on your board.

Best for

Tech stack decisions

Research frameworks, databases, and tools in Perplexity. Capture the comparison as a task with all the details so you can decide later.

Bug investigation

Search for error messages, stack traces, or known issues. Save the solution and relevant links as a task so you can apply the fix.

Learning & reference

Research a new concept, API, or technique. Capture the summary as a reference note you can come back to while coding.

Competitive analysis

Research competitors, market trends, or user feedback. Save findings as tasks with action items and due dates.