Guide · 4 min

Reading tarot with Perplexity

Perplexity is built to look things up, and it will happily talk tarot — but when you ask it to draw, it invents the cards, because a language model can't shuffle. Here is the prompt that gets the most out of it, the wall it hits, and how to give it a deck that was actually dealt. Custom connectors are a Pro/Max feature in Perplexity; the Familiar deck itself is free.

1. 01

   The prompt that gets closest

   Ask for one card, name the question, and make it commit before it explains: “Pick one tarot card at random for this, upright or reversed, then read it.” Naming the orientation and a single card keeps the answer from sliding into a summary of tarot in general.

2. 02

   The one thing a prompt can't do

   There's no shuffle behind the words — no deck state, no real randomness, no reversal odds. Ask twice and the “random” card can repeat, or arrive chosen to fit what you asked. A prompt shapes the reading; it can't make the draw real.

3. 03

   Give Perplexity a real deck

   Perplexity supports custom connectors on its Pro and Max plans: open Settings → Connectors, add a custom connector, and paste the Familiar URL — OAuth signs you in, no key to manage. Then a drawn spread pulls from a true shuffle of seventy-eight, upright or reversed by real odds, with the card art to match. The exact URL and steps are on the connection guide.

Use a different assistant? The same deck connects to Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok. The connection guide has the per-client steps.