fix(web_search): Fix invalid model name sent to Perplexity (#12795)

* fix(web_search): Fix invalid model name sent to Perplexity

* chore: Only apply fix to direct Perplexity calls

* fix(web_search): normalize direct Perplexity model IDs

* fix: add changelog note for perplexity model normalization (#12795) (thanks @cdorsey)

* fix: align tests and fetch type for gate stability (#12795) (thanks @cdorsey)

* chore: keep #12795 scoped to web_search changes

---------

Co-authored-by: Sebastian <19554889+sebslight@users.noreply.github.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Auth: strip embedded line breaks from pasted API keys and tokens before storing/resolving credentials.
 - Web UI: make chat refresh smoothly scroll to the latest messages and suppress new-messages badge flash during manual refresh.
 - Tools/web_search: include provider-specific settings in the web search cache key, and pass `inlineCitations` for Grok. (#12419) Thanks @tmchow.
+- Tools/web_search: normalize direct Perplexity model IDs while keeping OpenRouter model IDs unchanged. (#12795) Thanks @cdorsey.
 - Model failover: treat HTTP 400 errors as failover-eligible, enabling automatic model fallback. (#1879) Thanks @orenyomtov.
 - Errors: prevent false positive context overflow detection when conversation mentions "context overflow" topic. (#2078) Thanks @sbking.
 - Gateway: no more post-compaction amnesia; injected transcript writes now preserve Pi session `parentId` chain so agents can remember again. (#12283) Thanks @Takhoffman.

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

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import { __testing } from "./web-search.js";
 const {
   inferPerplexityBaseUrlFromApiKey,
   resolvePerplexityBaseUrl,
+  isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl,
+  resolvePerplexityRequestModel,
   normalizeFreshness,
   resolveGrokApiKey,
   resolveGrokModel,
@@ -58,6 +60,32 @@ describe("web_search perplexity baseUrl defaults", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("web_search perplexity model normalization", () => {
+  it("detects direct Perplexity host", () => {
+    expect(isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl("https://api.perplexity.ai")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl("https://api.perplexity.ai/")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("strips provider prefix for direct Perplexity", () => {
+    expect(resolvePerplexityRequestModel("https://api.perplexity.ai", "perplexity/sonar-pro")).toBe(
+      "sonar-pro",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("keeps prefixed model for OpenRouter", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolvePerplexityRequestModel("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", "perplexity/sonar-pro"),
+    ).toBe("perplexity/sonar-pro");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps model unchanged when URL is invalid", () => {
+    expect(resolvePerplexityRequestModel("not-a-url", "perplexity/sonar-pro")).toBe(
+      "perplexity/sonar-pro",
+    );
+  });
+});
+
 describe("web_search freshness normalization", () => {
   it("accepts Brave shortcut values", () => {
     expect(normalizeFreshness("pd")).toBe("pd");

src/agents/tools/web-search.ts

@@ -280,6 +280,25 @@ function resolvePerplexityModel(perplexity?: PerplexityConfig): string {
   return fromConfig || DEFAULT_PERPLEXITY_MODEL;
 }
 
+function isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl(baseUrl: string): boolean {
+  const trimmed = baseUrl.trim();
+  if (!trimmed) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  try {
+    return new URL(trimmed).hostname.toLowerCase() === "api.perplexity.ai";
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function resolvePerplexityRequestModel(baseUrl: string, model: string): string {
+  if (!isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl(baseUrl)) {
+    return model;
+  }
+  return model.startsWith("perplexity/") ? model.slice("perplexity/".length) : model;
+}
+
 function resolveGrokConfig(search?: WebSearchConfig): GrokConfig {
   if (!search || typeof search !== "object") {
     return {};
@@ -379,7 +398,9 @@ async function runPerplexitySearch(params: {
   model: string;
   timeoutSeconds: number;
 }): Promise<{ content: string; citations: string[] }> {
-  const endpoint = `${params.baseUrl.replace(/\/$/, "")}/chat/completions`;
+  const baseUrl = params.baseUrl.trim().replace(/\/$/, "");
+  const endpoint = `${baseUrl}/chat/completions`;
+  const model = resolvePerplexityRequestModel(baseUrl, params.model);
 
   const res = await fetch(endpoint, {
     method: "POST",
@@ -390,7 +411,7 @@ async function runPerplexitySearch(params: {
       "X-Title": "OpenClaw Web Search",
     },
     body: JSON.stringify({
-      model: params.model,
+      model,
       messages: [
         {
           role: "user",
@@ -686,6 +707,8 @@ export function createWebSearchTool(options?: {
 export const __testing = {
   inferPerplexityBaseUrlFromApiKey,
   resolvePerplexityBaseUrl,
+  isDirectPerplexityBaseUrl,
+  resolvePerplexityRequestModel,
   normalizeFreshness,
   resolveGrokApiKey,
   resolveGrokModel,

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

@@ -151,6 +151,12 @@ describe("web_search perplexity baseUrl defaults", () => {
 
     expect(mockFetch).toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(mockFetch.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toBe("https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions");
+    const request = mockFetch.mock.calls[0]?.[1] as RequestInit | undefined;
+    const requestBody = request?.body;
+    const body = JSON.parse(typeof requestBody === "string" ? requestBody : "{}") as {
+      model?: string;
+    };
+    expect(body.model).toBe("sonar-pro");
   });
 
   it("rejects freshness for Perplexity provider", async () => {
@@ -194,6 +200,12 @@ describe("web_search perplexity baseUrl defaults", () => {
 
     expect(mockFetch).toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(mockFetch.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toBe("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions");
+    const request = mockFetch.mock.calls[0]?.[1] as RequestInit | undefined;
+    const requestBody = request?.body;
+    const body = JSON.parse(typeof requestBody === "string" ? requestBody : "{}") as {
+      model?: string;
+    };
+    expect(body.model).toBe("perplexity/sonar-pro");
   });
 
   it("prefers PERPLEXITY_API_KEY when both env keys are set", async () => {