unstructured-mcp-server

FastMCP server for Unstructured.io document parsing.

Overview

This MCP server provides tools for parsing documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT, logs, etc.) using Unstructured.io API. It connects Claude to document parsing capabilities via the Model Context Protocol.

Prerequisites

• Python >= 3.10
• Unstructured API container running on localhost:9104

Start the Unstructured API

docker run -d --name unstructured-api -p 9104:8000 \
  quay.io/unstructured-io/unstructured-api:latest

Or using docker-compose (recommended):

cd brainery-containers
docker-compose up -d unstructured-api

Installation

Via Smithery (Recommended)

npx -y @smithery/cli install @tapiocapioca/unstructured-mcp-server --client claude

This will:

• Install the package
• Configure Claude Desktop automatically
• Set up the MCP server

Via pip (Manual)

pip install unstructured-mcp-server

Or with uv:

uv pip install unstructured-mcp-server

Then add to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unstructured": {
      "command": "unstructured-mcp",
      "env": {
        "UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL": "http://localhost:9104"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage

As MCP Server

unstructured-mcp

Configuration

Set environment variables (optional):

export UNSTRUCTURED_API_URL=http://localhost:9104

Tools

Tool	Description
parse_document	Parse a single document (PDF, DOCX, TXT, logs) and extract text
parse_batch	Parse multiple documents in batch

parse_document

parse_document(file_path: str, strategy: str = "auto")

Parameters:

• file_path: Absolute path to file on host machine
• strategy: Parsing strategy - auto, fast, hi_res, or ocr_only (default: auto)

Returns:

• text: Extracted text content
• elements_count: Number of document elements
• file_type: Detected file type
• processing_time_ms: Processing time in milliseconds

parse_batch

parse_batch(file_paths: list[str])

Parameters:

• file_paths: Array of absolute paths to files

Returns:

• List of results, one per file (success or error)

Supported File Types

Documents (via Unstructured API):

• PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, ODT, RTF, EPUB

Text Files (direct read):

• .txt, .log, .md, .csv, .json, .yaml, .yml
• .py, .js, .ts, .java, .c, .cpp, .sh, .bash
• .conf, .cfg, .ini, .properties, .env, .sql
• .xml, .html, .css, .gitignore, .htaccess

License

MIT