> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.unstructured.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Unstructured API quickstart

> Use curl or the Unstructured Python SDK to turn local files into AI-ready JSON.

<Note>
  This quickstart uses [Unstructured Transform](/transform/overview), which works only with local files.

  To work with remote files and data, skip this quickstart and use the [Unstructured Pipelines API](/api-reference/workflow/overview) instead.
</Note>

## Requirements

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign up">
    1. Go to [https://transform.unstructured.io](https://transform.unstructured.io).
    2. Follow the on-screen instructions to sign up.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get your API key and API URL">
    1. Sign in to [https://transform.unstructured.io](https://transform.unstructured.io), if you are not already signed in.
    2. On the sidebar, click **API Keys**.
    3. In the **API Key** field, click the pages icon (**Copy**) to copy your Unstructured API key.
    4. In the **API URL** field, click the pages icon (**Copy**) to copy your Unstructured API URL. This value should be `https://platform-api.transform.unstructured.io/api/v1`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set environment variables">
    This quickstart assumes that you have set two local environment variables that your local curl scripts or Python code can access. These two environment variables are:

    * `UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL`, representing your Unstructured API URL, which you got from the previous step.
    * `UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY`, representing your Unstructured API key, which you got from the previous step.

    For instructions about how to set these environment variables accordingly, see your local operating system's documentation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install the tools">
    **For curl users**: To use this quickstart with curl, you only need to have curl installed locally. For installation instructions, see your local operating system's documentation.

    **For Python users**: To use this quickstart with Python, install the Unstructured Python SDK locally by running the following command:

    ```bash theme={null}
    pip install unstructured-client
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Quickstarts by use case

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Transform" href="/api-reference/quickstart/transform">
    Transform your documents' contents into text and metadata, which Unstructured outputs as standard AI-ready JSON.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Enrich" href="/api-reference/quickstart/enrich">
    Uncover more context and insights from your documents, which Unstructured adds to your existing AI-ready JSON.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Embed" href="/api-reference/quickstart/embed">
    Power up semantic search and retrieval with vector embeddings that Unstructured generates. These
    embeddings are based on your documents' text content.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Extract" href="/api-reference/quickstart/extract">
    Extract just the data that you care about from your documents, which Unstructured outputs as JSON object data records.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>