Get started with Unstructured Transform for Claude Desktop

Requirements

Before you begin, you must have the following:

A Claude plan. To see if you have a plan, sign in to Claude and then on the sidebar, click your user icon. Sign up for Claude.
For Claude Desktop, the Transform MCP server does not support users on the Claude Free plan.
Claude Desktop installed on your local development machine. Install Claude Desktop.
If you’ve already connected to Transform through claude.ai or the Claude mobile apps, you may not need to connect through Claude Desktop. To find out, in Claude Desktop, click Customize, then Connectors, and then type Unstructured Transform in the search box. If Unstructured Transform shows a check mark, it is connected and you are ready to parse your source files.
Claude Code maintains its own separate connection, so you must install and authenticate the Transform MCP server there independently. See Get started with Unstructured Transform for Claude Code.

Install the Transform MCP server

To connect and authenticate the Transform MCP server:

Pro or Max plan
Team or Enterprise plan

Start Claude Desktop.
Allow the Transform domain network access:
1. On the sidebar, click your user icon, then click Settings, then click Capabilities.
2. In the Code execution and file creation section, switch on the Code execution and file creation toggle.
3. Switch on the Allow network egress toggle.
4. In the Additional allowed domains list, enter the Transform MCP server’s domain as follows:
  mcp.transform.unstructured.io
  Be aware:
  - Code execution and file creation, Allow network egress, and Additional allowed domains are account-level settings, not specific to Claude Desktop. Changing them here also applies to claude.ai and the Claude mobile apps.
  - Additional allowed domains is a single shared allowlist for your account. If you already use other connectors that require network access, add mcp.transform.unstructured.io to your existing list rather than replacing it.
5. Close the Settings dialog.
Connect to Transform:
1. On the sidebar, click Customize.
2. On the side pane, click Connectors, then click Add, then from the drop-down list select Browse connectors.
3. In the Search connectors box, search for and select the Unstructured Transform connector.
  Can't find the connector?
  1. Close the Directory dialog.
  2. Next to Connectors, click the plus icon, and then click Add custom connector.
  3. In the Add custom connector dialog, for Name, enter Unstructured Transform.
  4. For Remote MCP server URL, enter the following:
    https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io
  5. Click Add.
4. Click Connect, and follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating. If you do not have a Transform account, click Register and then follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating.
After you finish authenticating, the Transform MCP server is ready for you to start using.

Before members of Team and Enterprise plans can connect to Transform, an Owner or Primary Owner needs to perform the following procedures:If an Owner or Primary Owner has already done this, skip this step.

Allow the Transform domain network access

Start Claude Desktop.
On the sidebar, click your user icon, and then click Settings.
On the side pane, under Settings, click Capabilities.
In the Code execution and file creation section, switch on the Code execution and file creation toggle.
Switch on the Allow network egress toggle.
In the Additional allowed domains list, enter the Transform MCP server’s domain as follows:
mcp.transform.unstructured.io
Be aware:
- Code execution and file creation, Allow network egress, and Additional allowed domains are account-level settings, not specific to Claude Desktop. Changing them here also applies to claude.ai and the Claude mobile apps.
- Additional allowed domains is a single shared allowlist for your account. If you already use other connectors that require network access, add mcp.transform.unstructured.io to your existing list rather than replacing it.
Close the Settings dialog, and then close the Connectors dialog.

Add Transform as a connector for your organization

Start Claude Desktop.
On the side pane, click Organization settings, then Connectors.
Click Browse connectors at the bottom of the page.
Select Unstructured Transform from the list, and then click Add to your team.

For more information, see Connect a service on Team and Enterprise plans in Claude Support.

Start Claude Desktop.
Connect to Transform:
On the sidebar, click Customize.
Click Connectors.
Search for the Unstructured Transform connector and select it.
Click Connect, and follow the on-screen directions in the browser to finish authenticating. If you do not have a Transform account, click Register and then follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating.
Not seeing the Transform connector?
Make sure that an Owner or Primary Owner has added Transform for your organization, as described in the previous step.

After you finish authenticating, the Transform MCP server is ready for you to start using.

Parse your source files

Parsing requests have the following limits:

Each file must be of a supported file type.
Each file must be 50 MB or less in size.
Each request must have 10 files or fewer.
Only 5 requests can be running at a time.

The Transform MCP server is designed to notify Claude Desktop about these limits. Because of this, Claude Desktop should notify you whenever it encounters a file that exceeds 50 MB in size. Also, Claude Desktop should formulate strategies to send requests that are 10 files or fewer and not cause more than 5 requests to be running at a time. After you connect Claude Desktop to the Transform MCP server, complete one of the following sets of instructions, depending on whether you’re using Claude Desktop in Chat mode or Cowork mode.

Chat mode
Cowork mode

In Claude Desktop, on the sidebar, click the speech balloons icon (Chat).
On the sidebar, click New chat.
Add the files you want Transform to parse to your chat session. To do this, next to the Write a message prompt, click the plus icon (Add files, connectors, and more).
Click Add files or photos.
Follow the on-screen directions to finish adding the files.
From your chat message prompt, ask the following:
Use the Unstructured Transform MCP server to parse the attached files. Provide the results as downloadable JSON files, one JSON file per source file.
Transform parses your input files and delivers its results to you as a set of output files, one output file per input file.

In Claude Desktop, on the sidebar, click the to-do list icon (Cowork).
On the sidebar, click Projects.
Click New project.
Click Use an existing folder.
Follow the on-screen instructions to choose the folder that contains the files you want Transform to parse.
From your chat message prompt, ask the following:
Use the Unstructured Transform MCP server to parse the files in this project. Provide the results as JSON files, one JSON file per source file.
As needed, adapt the phrase in this project in the preceding prompt to indicate a more specific project folder. Also, as needed, guide Claude Desktop as to where to write Transform’s output into the project. Transform parses your input files and delivers its results to you as a set of output files, one output file per input file.

Extract structured data

If you want to pull specific fields from your files, instead of converting the files in full, ask for an extraction. To determine what structured data Transform can extract from your files, use a prompt similar to the following:

Use the Unstructured Transform MCP server to extract structured data from these files.

I don't have a schema — suggest one based on what's in the document, show it to me, and then run the extraction with it.

Your tool parses each file first, then extracts the field values from the parsed element JSON; this is because the Transform MCP extraction tools read a file’s parsed output, rather than the raw file itself. Transform returns results as JSON matching the schema, wrapped with the source filename so you can tell a batch apart. If you know the specific fields you want, include them in your prompt to guide Transform in extracting just the information that’s important to you. For more information, including prompting patterns and performance considerations, see Structured data extraction.

Next steps

Control Transform file parsing output: Control how the Unstructured Transform MCP server instructs Transform to partition, enrich, chunk, and embed the data based on your files.
Control Transform structured data extraction: Control how the Unstructured Transform MCP server extracts and formats structured data from your files.
Control Transform generated sample code: Control how the Unstructured Transform MCP server generates sample curl or Python code that demonstrates how to use Transform to partition, enrich, chunk, and embed the data based on your files.

Questions? Need help?

For technical support, request support.

​Requirements

​Install the Transform MCP server

​Parse your source files

​Extract structured data

​Next steps

​Questions? Need help?

Requirements

Install the Transform MCP server

Parse your source files

Extract structured data

Next steps

Questions? Need help?