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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.

Install the Transform MCP server

You should be able to instruct Claude Desktop to install the Transform MCP server by asking Claude Desktop the following:
Install the Unstructured Transform MCP server by using these instructions: 
https://docs.unstructured.io/transform/install/claude-desktop.mdx
If this does not work, to install the Transform MCP server manually, complete the following steps.If you are able to successfully connect, skip ahead to parse your source files.
Complete one of the following sets of instructions, depending on whether you are a Claude Pro or Max plan user or Team or Enterprise plan user.

Pro and Max plan users

  1. Start Claude Desktop.
  2. On the sidebar, click your user icon, and then click Settings.
  3. On the side pane, under Settings, click Capabilities.
  4. In the Code execution and file creation section, switch on the Code execution and file creation toggle.
  5. Switch on the Allow network egress toggle.
  6. In the Additional allowed domains list, enter the Transform MCP server’s domain as follows:
    mcp.transform.unstructured.io
    
  7. Close the Settings dialog.
  8. On the sidebar, click Customize.
  9. On the side pane, click Connectors.
  10. Next to Connectors, click the plus icon, and then click Browse connectors.
  11. With Connectors already selected, do the following:
    a. In the Search connectors box, search for and select the Unstructured Transform connector. (If for some reason you cannot find the connector, skip ahead to step 12 in this procedure.)
    b. Click Connect, and follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating.
    c. After you finish authenticating, the Transform MCP server is ready for you to start using.
    d. Skip ahead to parse your source files.
  12. If for some reason you cannot find the Unstructured Transform connector, do the following: a. Close the Directory dialog.
    b. Next to Connectors, click the plus icon, and then click Add custom connector.
    c. In the Add custom connector dialog, for Name, enter Unstructured Transform.
    d. For Remote MCP server URL, enter the following:
    https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io
    e. Click Add.
    f. Click Connect, and follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating. After you finish authenticating, the Transform MCP server is ready for you to start using.
    g. Skip ahead to parse your source files.

Team and Enterprise plan users

  1. Start Claude Desktop.
  2. One of your plan’s owners must do the following from their Claude Desktop installation first; then you can skip down to step 3 in this procedure. a. On the sidebar, click your user icon, and then click Settings.
    b. On the side pane, under Settings, click Capabilities.
    c. In the Code execution and file creation section, switch on the Code execution and file creation toggle.
    d. Switch on the Allow network egress toggle.
    e. In the Additional allowed domains list, enter the Transform MCP server’s domain as follows:
    mcp.transform.unstructured.io
    
    f. Close the Settings dialog.
    g. On the sidebar, click Customize.
    h. On the side pane, click Connectors.
    i. Next to Connectors, click the plus icon, and then click Add custom connector.
    j. In the Add custom connector dialog, for Name, enter Unstructured Transform.
    k. For Remote MCP server URL, enter the following:
    https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io
    l. Click Add.
    m. Click the back button, and then close the Connectors dialog.
  3. On the sidebar, click Customize.
  4. Click Connectors.
  5. Click the Unstructured Transform connector that one of your plan’s owners added. It will have a Custom label next to it.
  6. Click Connect, and follow the on-screen directions to finish authenticating.
  7. 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

  1. In Claude Desktop, on the sidebar, click the speech balloons icon (Chat).
  2. On the sidebar, click New chat.
  3. 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).
  4. Click Add files or photos.
  5. Follow the on-screen directions to finish adding the files.
  6. 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.
  7. Skip ahead to the next steps.

Cowork mode

  1. In Claude Desktop, on the sidebar, click the to-do list icon (Cowork).
  2. On the sidebar, click Projects.
  3. Click New project.
  4. Click Use an existing folder.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to choose the folder that contains the files you want Transform to parse.
  6. 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.

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 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?