@duckmind/deepquark-darwin-arm64 0.9.78 → 0.9.81

package/.deepquark/skills/bundled/perplexity-search/references/model_comparison.md

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+# Perplexity Model Comparison
+
+Guide to different Perplexity models available through OpenRouter and when to use each.
+
+## Available Models
+
+All Perplexity models are accessed through OpenRouter using the format:
+`openrouter/perplexity/[model-name]`
+
+### Sonar Pro Search
+
+**Model ID**: `openrouter/perplexity/sonar-pro-search`
+
+**Best for:**
+- Complex multi-step research questions
+- Queries requiring deep analysis and synthesis
+- Situations needing comprehensive source exploration
+- Comparative analyses across multiple domains
+- Research requiring agentic reasoning workflow
+
+**Characteristics:**
+- Most advanced agentic search system
+- Executes multi-step reasoning workflows
+- Uses tools and intermediate queries
+- Provides most comprehensive answers
+- Higher cost due to extensive processing
+
+**Use cases:**
+- "Conduct a comprehensive analysis of competing CAR-T cell therapy approaches, including mechanism differences, clinical outcomes, and cost-effectiveness"
+- "Compare quantum computing approaches for drug discovery with traditional computational methods across multiple metrics"
+- Research questions requiring synthesis from many sources
+
+**Pricing** (approximate):
+- Input: $3/million tokens
+- Output: $15/million tokens
+- Request fee: $18 per 1000 requests
+
+**Context window**: 200K tokens
+
+### Sonar Pro
+
+**Model ID**: `openrouter/perplexity/sonar-pro`
+
+**Best for:**
+- General-purpose research and search
+- Balanced performance and cost
+- Standard scientific queries
+- Quick information gathering
+- Most use cases
+
+**Characteristics:**
+- Enhanced capabilities over base Sonar
+- Good balance of quality and cost
+- Reliable for most queries
+- Faster than Pro Search
+- Recommended default choice
+
+**Use cases:**
+- "What are the latest developments in CRISPR base editing?"
+- "Summarize recent clinical trials for Alzheimer's treatment"
+- "Explain how transformer architectures work in modern LLMs"
+- Standard literature searches
+- Technical documentation queries
+
+**Pricing** (approximate):
+- Lower cost than Pro Search
+- Good cost-performance ratio
+
+**Context window**: 200K tokens
+
+### Sonar
+
+**Model ID**: `openrouter/perplexity/sonar`
+
+**Best for:**
+- Basic searches and queries
+- Cost-sensitive applications
+- Simple fact-finding
+- High-volume queries
+- Quick lookups
+
+**Characteristics:**
+- Base model with solid performance
+- Most cost-effective option
+- Faster response times
+- Good for straightforward queries
+- Lower accuracy than Pro variants
+
+**Use cases:**
+- "What is the molecular weight of aspirin?"
+- "When was CRISPR-Cas9 first used in humans?"
+- "List the main symptoms of diabetes"
+- Simple fact verification
+- Basic information retrieval
+
+**Pricing** (approximate):
+- Lowest cost option
+- Best for high-volume simple queries
+
+**Context window**: 200K tokens
+
+### Sonar Reasoning Pro
+
+**Model ID**: `openrouter/perplexity/sonar-reasoning-pro`
+
+**Best for:**
+- Complex logical reasoning tasks
+- Multi-step problem solving
+- Technical analysis requiring step-by-step thinking
+- Mathematical or computational problems
+- Queries needing explicit reasoning chains
+
+**Characteristics:**
+- Advanced reasoning capabilities
+- Shows step-by-step thinking
+- Better for analytical tasks
+- Excels at technical problem-solving
+- More structured outputs
+
+**Use cases:**
+- "Walk through the steps to design a clinical trial for testing a novel cancer therapy"
+- "Analyze the computational complexity of different protein folding algorithms"
+- "Reason through the molecular mechanisms linking multiple genes to a disease phenotype"
+- Technical troubleshooting with multiple steps
+- Logical analysis of complex systems
+
+**Pricing** (approximate):
+- Higher cost due to reasoning capabilities
+- Worth it for complex analytical tasks
+
+**Context window**: 200K tokens
+
+### Sonar Reasoning
+
+**Model ID**: `openrouter/perplexity/sonar-reasoning`
+
+**Best for:**
+- Basic reasoning tasks
+- Cost-effective analytical queries
+- Simpler logical problems
+- Step-by-step explanations
+
+**Characteristics:**
+- Basic reasoning capabilities
+- More affordable than Reasoning Pro
+- Good for moderate complexity tasks
+- Shows logical thinking process
+
+**Use cases:**
+- "Explain the logic behind vaccine efficacy calculations"
+- "Walk through basic statistical analysis steps"
+- Simple analytical questions
+- Educational explanations
+
+**Pricing** (approximate):
+- Lower cost than Reasoning Pro
+- Good balance for basic reasoning
+
+**Context window**: 200K tokens
+
+## Model Selection Guide
+
+### Decision Tree
+
+```
+Is your query complex and requiring deep multi-step analysis?
+├─ YES → Use Sonar Pro Search
+└─ NO → Continue
+
+Does your query require explicit step-by-step reasoning?
+├─ YES → Use Sonar Reasoning Pro (complex) or Sonar Reasoning (simple)
+└─ NO → Continue
+
+Is this a standard research or information query?
+├─ YES → Use Sonar Pro (recommended default)
+└─ NO → Continue
+
+Is this a simple fact-finding or basic lookup?
+├─ YES → Use Sonar (cost-effective)
+└─ NO → Use Sonar Pro (safe default)
+```
+
+### By Use Case
+
+| Use Case | Recommended Model | Alternative |
+|----------|------------------|-------------|
+| Literature review | Sonar Pro | Sonar Pro Search |
+| Quick fact check | Sonar | Sonar Pro |
+| Complex analysis | Sonar Pro Search | Sonar Reasoning Pro |
+| Step-by-step tutorial | Sonar Reasoning Pro | Sonar Pro |
+| Cost-sensitive bulk queries | Sonar | Sonar Pro |
+| General research | Sonar Pro | Sonar |
+| Technical debugging | Sonar Reasoning Pro | Sonar Pro |
+| Comparative analysis | Sonar Pro Search | Sonar Pro |
+
+### By Domain
+
+**Biomedical Research:**
+- Default: Sonar Pro
+- Complex mechanisms: Sonar Reasoning Pro
+- Literature synthesis: Sonar Pro Search
+- Quick lookups: Sonar
+
+**Computational Science:**
+- Default: Sonar Pro
+- Algorithm analysis: Sonar Reasoning Pro
+- Technical docs: Sonar Pro
+- Basic syntax: Sonar
+
+**Drug Discovery:**
+- Default: Sonar Pro
+- Multi-target analysis: Sonar Pro Search
+- Mechanism reasoning: Sonar Reasoning Pro
+- Compound properties: Sonar
+
+**Clinical Research:**
+- Default: Sonar Pro
+- Trial design: Sonar Reasoning Pro
+- Evidence synthesis: Sonar Pro Search
+- Basic guidelines: Sonar
+
+## Performance Characteristics
+
+### Response Time
+
+**Fastest to Slowest:**
+1. Sonar (fastest)
+2. Sonar Pro
+3. Sonar Reasoning
+4. Sonar Reasoning Pro
+5. Sonar Pro Search (slowest, due to multi-step processing)
+
+**Considerations:**
+- For time-sensitive queries, use Sonar or Sonar Pro
+- For comprehensive analysis, accept the slower Sonar Pro Search
+- Reasoning models are slower due to explicit thinking steps
+
+### Quality vs Cost Trade-offs
+
+**Quality Hierarchy** (highest to lowest):
+1. Sonar Pro Search
+2. Sonar Reasoning Pro
+3. Sonar Pro
+4. Sonar Reasoning
+5. Sonar
+
+**Cost Hierarchy** (most to least expensive):
+1. Sonar Pro Search
+2. Sonar Reasoning Pro
+3. Sonar Pro
+4. Sonar Reasoning
+5. Sonar
+
+**Recommendation**: Start with Sonar Pro as the default. Upgrade to Pro Search for complex queries, downgrade to Sonar for simple lookups.
+
+### Accuracy and Comprehensiveness
+
+**Most Comprehensive:**
+- Sonar Pro Search: Explores multiple sources, synthesizes deeply
+- Sonar Reasoning Pro: Thorough step-by-step analysis
+
+**Most Accurate:**
+- Sonar Pro Search: Best source verification and cross-checking
+- Sonar Pro: Reliable for most queries
+
+**Good Enough:**
+- Sonar: Adequate for simple facts and basic queries
+
+## Special Considerations
+
+### Context Window
+
+All models support 200K token context windows:
+- Sufficient for most queries
+- Can handle long documents or multiple sources
+- Consider chunking very large analyses
+
+### Temperature Settings
+
+Different models benefit from different temperature settings:
+
+**Sonar Pro Search:**
+- Default: 0.2 (more focused, analytical)
+- Use lower (0.0-0.1) for factual queries
+- Use higher (0.3-0.5) for creative synthesis
+
+**Sonar Reasoning Pro:**
+- Default: 0.2
+- Keep low (0.0-0.2) for logical consistency
+- Reasoning quality degrades at high temperatures
+
+**Sonar Pro / Sonar:**
+- Default: 0.2
+- Adjust based on query type (factual vs exploratory)
+
+### Rate Limits and Quotas
+
+OpenRouter enforces rate limits:
+- Check your OpenRouter dashboard for current limits
+- Consider request batching for high-volume use
+- Monitor costs with OpenRouter's tracking tools
+
+### API Key Security
+
+**Best practices:**
+- Never commit API keys to version control
+- Use environment variables or .env files
+- Rotate keys periodically
+- Monitor usage for unexpected activity
+- Use separate keys for different projects
+
+## Example Comparisons
+
+### Query: "Explain CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing"
+
+**Sonar:**
+- Quick overview
+- Basic mechanism explanation
+- ~200-300 tokens
+- 1-2 sources cited
+- Cost: $0.001
+
+**Sonar Pro:**
+- Detailed explanation
+- Multiple mechanisms covered
+- ~500-800 tokens
+- 3-5 sources cited
+- Cost: $0.003
+
+**Sonar Reasoning Pro:**
+- Step-by-step mechanism breakdown
+- Logical flow of editing process
+- ~800-1200 tokens
+- Shows reasoning steps
+- Cost: $0.005
+
+**Sonar Pro Search:**
+- Comprehensive analysis
+- Multiple sources synthesized
+- Historical context included
+- Recent developments covered
+- ~1500-2000 tokens
+- 10+ sources explored
+- Cost: $0.020+
+
+### Query: "What is 2+2?"
+
+All models return accurate answer. Use Sonar for simple queries to minimize cost.
+
+### Query: "Design a clinical trial for novel immunotherapy"
+
+**Sonar:**
+- Basic template provided
+- May miss important details
+- Cost-effective but incomplete
+
+**Sonar Pro:**
+- Solid trial design framework
+- Covers main components
+- Good starting point
+
+**Sonar Reasoning Pro:**
+- Detailed step-by-step design
+- Considers multiple factors
+- Shows reasoning for each choice
+- **Recommended for this query type**
+
+**Sonar Pro Search:**
+- Most comprehensive design
+- Incorporates best practices from multiple sources
+- Compares different approaches
+- May be overkill for initial design
+
+## Summary
+
+**Default recommendation**: Start with **Sonar Pro** for most scientific queries.
+
+**When to upgrade:**
+- Complex multi-step analysis → Sonar Pro Search
+- Explicit reasoning needed → Sonar Reasoning Pro
+
+**When to downgrade:**
+- Simple facts or lookups → Sonar
+- Cost-sensitive bulk queries → Sonar
+
+**Remember**: The best model depends on your specific use case, budget, and quality requirements. Monitor your usage and adjust model selection based on results.