Get started with Unstructured Transform for Visual Studio Code

Requirements

This page describes how to use GitHub Copilot as your agent within Visual Studio Code. Before you begin, you must have the following:

Visual Studio Code. Install Visual Studio Code.
A GitHub Copilot account. To verify in Visual Studio Code, click the Copilot icon in the status bar, and then sign in:
- If you already have a Copilot subscription for your account, Visual Studio Code will use that subscription.
- If you do not have a Copilot subscription yet, you will be signed up for the Copilot Free plan and get a monthly allowance of inline suggestions and AI credits. Learn more about the different Copilot plans.
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.

Install the Transform MCP server

You should be able to instruct Visual Studio Code to install the Transform MCP server by asking Visual Studio Code the following:

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

You can run this prompt for example from the Chat view in Visual Studio Code (from the main menu, click View, then Open View, then Chat).During this process, Visual Studio Code 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 Visual Studio Code.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.

In the Visual Studio Code Command Palette (from the main menu, click View, then Command Palette), run the command >MCP: Open User Configuration. You must begin the command with a >.
In the mcp.json file’s code editor that appears, add the following entry to the servers object. If there are existing entries in the servers object, do not change or delete them:
{ "servers": { "unstructured-transform": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io" } } }
Save and close the mcp.json file.
Start Visual Studio Code. If Visual Studio Code is already running, quit and then restart it.
A web browser tab appears, 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.

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 Visual Studio Code about these limits. Because of this, Visual Studio Code should notify you whenever it encounters a file that exceeds 50 MB in size. Also, Visual Studio Code 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 or restart Visual Studio Code, use Visual Studio Code to open the folder that stores the files you want Transform to parse (from the main menu, click File, then Open Folder).
If the Chat view is not visible, open it (from the main menu, click View, then Open View, then Chat).
In the Chat view’s Describe what to build box, enter the following prompt:
Use the Unstructured Transform MCP server to parse the files in this folder. Provide the results as JSON files, one JSON file per source file.
As needed, adapt the phrase in this folder in the preceding prompt to indicate a more specific folder. Also, as needed, guide Visual Studio Code as to where to write Transform’s output into the folder. Transform parses your input files and delivers its results to you as a set of output files, one output file per input file. If Visual Studio Code cannot find the Transform MCP server, see the troubleshooter Cannot find Transform MCP server connection details.

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.

Approve Transform tool calls automatically

Visual Studio Code asks for approval each time it calls a Transform MCP server tool that you have not already approved. To approve all Transform tools in advance:

Open GitHub Copilot’s permissions-config.json file in your preferred code editor. The default location is:
- For macOS and Linux: ~/.copilot/permissions-config.json
- For Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\permissions-config.json

Add this locations object at the top level of permissions-config.json. Replace </absolute/path/to/your/project/folder> with the full path to your project folder. If locations already exists, add the entry to it:

{
  "locations": {
    "</absolute/path/to/your/project/folder>": {
      "tool_approvals": [
        {
          "kind": "mcp",
          "serverName": "unstructured-transform",
          "toolName": null
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Save and then close the permissions-config.json file.

Troubleshooting

Cannot find Transform MCP server connection details

Issue: When you prompt Visual Studio Code to use the Unstructured Transform MCP server, Visual Studio Code cannot find any of the MCP server’s connection details.Cause: Visual Studio Code attempts to find the mcp.json file that contains these connection details in locations such as the current folder or locally cloned repositories. However, the default location for this mcp.json file is here instead:

For macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json
For Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json
For Windows: %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json

Solution: In your prompt, instruct Visual Studio Code where to find the mcp.json file that contains information about the Transform MCP server. For example, for macOS:

Use the Unstructured Transform MCP server as specified in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json to parse the files in this folder.

Provide the results as JSON files, one JSON file per source file.

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

​Approve Transform tool calls automatically

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

​Questions? Need help?