Get started with Unstructured Transform for the IBM Bob IDE

Requirements

Before you begin, you must have the following:

An IBM Cloud account. To see if you have an account, log in to your IBM Cloud account. Create an IBM Cloud account.
An IBM Bob plan. To see if you have a plan, use the IBMid for your IBM Cloud account to log in to IBM Bob.
The IBM Bob IDE installed on your local development machine. Install the IBM Bob IDE.
Node.js installed on your local development machine. To see if it is, in your terminal, run node -v or node --version. Install Node.js.
If you used the IBM Bob Shell to install the Transform MCP server, it could already be available to you in the IBM Bob IDE. If so, you can skip ahead to parse your source files. To see if it is, do the following in the IBM Bob IDE:
1. In the Command Palette (from the main menu, click View, then Command Palette), enter the command >Bob: Settings. Be sure to begin the command with >.
2. On the Bob Settings editor tab’s side pane, click MCP.
3. If the Transform MCP server is installed, you will see Unstructured Transform in the list of installed MCP servers.

Install the Transform MCP server

You should be able to instruct the IBM Bob IDE to install the Transform MCP server by asking the IBM Bob IDE the following:

Install the Unstructured Transform MCP server by using these instructions: 
https://docs.unstructured.io/transform/get-started/ibm-bob-ide.md

During this process, the IBM Bob IDE will open a browser window where you sign in to Transform to complete authentication. If you do not have a Transform account, click Register and then follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating. Once authenticated, close the browser and return to the IBM Bob IDE.If this does not work, to install the Transform MCP server manually, complete the following steps.

If you were able to successfully install the Transform MCP server by using the preceding prompt, skip ahead to parse your source files.

Open the IBM Bob IDE’s mcp.json settings file in a text editor. This file is typically located at:
- For macOS and Linux: ~/.bob/settings/mcp.json (global) or .bob/mcp.json (within an individual workspace)
- For Windows: %APPDATA%\Bob\settings\mcp.json (global) or .bob\mcp.json (within an individual workspace)

Add the following entry to the mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unstructured-transform": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io"],
      "alwaysAllow": [
        "request_file_upload_url",
        "start_transform_job",
        "check_job_status",
        "get_job_results",
        "start_extraction_job",
        "suggest_extraction_schema_for_file",
        "get_instructions"
      ],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Save and close the mcp.json file.
Start the IBM Bob IDE. If it is already running, quit and then restart it.
If prompted, log in to Bob with your IBM Cloud account.
A web browser tab will appear, prompting you to authenticate with Transform. If you do not have a Transform account, click Register and then follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating.
The Transform MCP server is ready for you to start using.

To confirm whether the Transform MCP server is connected and all of its tools are available to you, do the following:

In the IBM Bob IDE’s Command Palette (from the main menu, click View, then Command Palette), enter the command >Bob: Settings. Be sure to begin the command with >.
On the Bob Settings editor tab’s side pane, click MCP.
If the Transform MCP server is installed and connected, you will see Unstructured Transform in the list with a Status of Connected. If it is not connected, click the Connect button, and follow any on-screen directions to finish connecting. If Unstructured Transform is not visible, try using the MCP servers filter drop-down to choose All, or click the refresh icon (Refresh all servers).
Make sure that all of the Transform MCP server’s tools are available to you. To do this, click the Unstructured Transform list entry. In the Tools list, make sure that each tool has its Always allow box checked, and switch on its toggle labeled Enable or disable this tool for use in prompts.

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 the IBM Bob IDE about these limits. Because of this, the IBM Bob IDE should notify you whenever it encounters a file that exceeds 50 MB in size. Also, the IBM Bob IDE 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 install the Transform MCP server and start the IBM Bob IDE, open the folder that stores the files you want Transform to parse (from the main menu, click File > Open Folder).
If the IBM Bob panel is not visible, open it (from the main menu, click View > Open View > IBM Bob).
In the IBM Bob editor tab, enter the following prompt:
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 the IBM Bob IDE 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?