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Connect PostgreSQL to your preprocessing pipeline, and use the Unstructured Ingest CLI or the Unstructured Ingest Python library to batch process all your documents and store structured outputs locally on your filesystem.

The requirements are as follows.

The following video shows how to set up Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL:

The following video shows how to set up Azure Database for PostgreSQL:

  • A PostgreSQL instance.

  • The host name and port number for the instance.

    • For Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, learn how to get the host name and port number.
    • For Azure Database for PostgreSQL, learn how to get the host. The port number is 5432.
    • For local PostgreSQL installations, these values are in the postgresql.conf file’s listen_addresses and port settings. This file should be on the same machine as the instance. These values might also already be set as environment variables named PGHOST and PGPORT on the same machine as the instance.
    • For other installation types, see your PostgreSQL provider’s documentation.

  • Depending on your network security requirements, you might need to allow access to your instance only from specific IP addresses.

    To get Unstructured’s IP address ranges, go to https://assets.p6m.u10d.net/publicitems/ip-prefixes.json and allow all of the ip_prefix fields’ values that are listed.

    These IP address ranges are subject to change. You can always find the latest ones in the preceding file.

    To learn how to allow these IP address ranges, see your PostgreSQL provider’s documentation, for example with Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL or Azure Database for PostgreSQL.

    For Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, Amazon recommends that you set the instance’s Public access setting to No by default, as this approach is more secure. This means that no resources can connect to the instance outside of the instance’s associated Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) without extra configuration. Learn more. Access an Amazon RDS instance in a VPC.

    If you must enable public access, set the instance’s Public access setting to Yes, and then adjust the instance’s related security group to allow this access. Learn how.

    Troubleshoot issues with connecting to Amazon RDS instances.

  • A database in the instance.

    • For Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, the default database name is postgres unless a custom database name was specified during the instance creation process.
    • For local PostgreSQL installations, learn how to create a database.
    • For other installation types, see your PostgreSQL provider’s documentation.

  • A table in the database. Learn how to create a table.

    The table’s schema must match the schema of the documents that Unstructured produces. Unstructured cannot provide a schema that is guaranteed to work in all circumstances. This is because these schemas will vary based on your source files’ types; how you want Unstructured to partition, chunk, and generate embeddings; any custom post-processing code that you run; and other factors.

    You can adapt the following table schema example for your own needs:

    CREATE TABLE elements (
    id UUID PRIMARY KEY,
    record_id VARCHAR,
    element_id VARCHAR,
    text TEXT,
    embeddings DECIMAL [],
    parent_id VARCHAR,
    page_number INTEGER,
    is_continuation BOOLEAN,
    orig_elements TEXT,
    partitioner_type VARCHAR
);

    See also:

    The following video shows how to use the psql utility to connect to PostgreSQL, list databases, and list and create tables:

  • A user in the database, and a password for the user.

    • For Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, learn how to create a user.
    • For Azure Database for PostgreSQL, learn how to create a user.
    • For local PostgreSQL installations, learn how to create a user.
    • For other installation types, see your PostgreSQL provider’s documentation.

  • Database access for the user.

The PostgreSQL connector dependencies:

CLI, Python
pip install "unstructured-ingest[postgres]"

You might also need to install additional dependencies, depending on your needs. Learn more.

The following environment variables:

  • PGHOST - The host name, represented by --host (CLI) or host (Python).
  • PGPORT - The port number, represented by --port (CLI) or port (Python).
  • PGUSER - The username, represented by --username (CLI) or username (Python).
  • PGPASSWORD - The user’s password, represented by --password (CLI) or password (Python).
  • PGDATABASE - The name of the database, represented by --database (CLI) or database (Python).

Now call the Unstructured CLI or Python. The destination connector can be any of the ones supported. This example uses the local destination connector:

This example sends data to Unstructured for processing by default. To process files locally instead, see the instructions at the end of this page.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Chunking and embedding are optional.

unstructured-ingest \
  postgres \
    --host $PGHOST \
    --port $PGPORT \
    --database $PGDATABASE \
    --table-name elements \
    --id-column id \
    --username $PGUSER \
    --password $PGPASSWORD \
    --download-dir $LOCAL_FILE_DOWNLOAD_DIR \
    --chunking-strategy by_title \
    --embedding-provider huggingface \
    --output-dir $LOCAL_FILE_OUTPUT_DIR \
    --partition-by-api \
    --api-key $UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY \
    --partition-endpoint $UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL

For the Unstructured Ingest CLI and the Unstructured Ingest Python library, you can use the --partition-by-api option (CLI) or partition_by_api (Python) parameter to specify where files are processed:

  • To do local file processing, omit --partition-by-api (CLI) or partition_by_api (Python), or explicitly specify partition_by_api=False (Python).

    Local file processing does not use an Unstructured API key or API URL, so you can also omit the following, if they appear:

    • --api-key $UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY (CLI) or api_key=os.getenv("UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY") (Python)
    • --partition-endpoint $UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL (CLI) or partition_endpoint=os.getenv("UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL") (Python)
    • The environment variables UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY and UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL

  • To send files to the Unstructured Partition Endpoint for processing, specify --partition-by-api (CLI) or partition_by_api=True (Python).

    Unstructured also requires an Unstructured API key and API URL, by adding the following:

    • --api-key $UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY (CLI) or api_key=os.getenv("UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY") (Python)
    • --partition-endpoint $UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL (CLI) or partition_endpoint=os.getenv("UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL") (Python)
    • The environment variables UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY and UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL, representing your API key and API URL, respectively.

    You must specify the API URL only if you are not using the default API URL for Unstructured Ingest, for example, if you are using a self-hosted instance of the Unstructured API.

    The default API URL for Unstructured Ingest is https://api.unstructuredapp.io/general/v0/general, which is the API URL for the Unstructured Partition Endpoint. However, you should always use the URL that was provided to you when your Unstructured account was created. If you do not have this URL, contact Unstructured Sales at sales@unstructured.io.

    If you do not have an API key, get one now.

    If the Unstructured API is self-hosted, the process for generating Unstructured API keys, and the Unstructured API URL that you use, are different. For details, contact Unstructured Sales at sales@unstructured.io.