Get started with Unstructured Foundation

Install Unstructured Foundation, connect to your files’ sources, and start querying your files from any MCP-compatible AI tool.

To jump immediately into this quickstart, skip ahead to the requirements.

Unstructured Foundation is an Early Access product. Unstructured must accept you into the Early Access program before you can begin using Foundation. Add your name to the Early Access interest list.

Unstructured is currently accepting a limited number of participants into the Early Access program at its discretion, with plans to expand access to a more general audience in the future.

The following information is being provided to give you an advance preview of possible future functionality. Unstructured makes no express claims as to what extent this information will reflect the state of the product upon initial general availability.

This quickstart demonstrates how to use Claude Code in your terminal to work with the Unstructured Foundation MCP server.

The Foundation MCP server supports other AI tools that support MCP (Model Context Protocol) server connections. However, this quickstart does not demonstrate how to use those tools with Foundation. Some common tools include:

• AI code editors and IDEs such as Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and JetBrains IDEs.
• AI chat interfaces and desktop assistants such as Codex.

To learn how to connect an AI tool other than Claude Code, see the Unstructured Foundation installation overview.

Requirements

Before you can begin this quickstart, you must have the following:

• Acceptance by Unstructured into its Early Access program for Foundation. Add your name to the Early Access interest list. Do not begin this quickstart until you have received your Early Access acceptance email from Unstructured.
• A Claude plan. Sign up for Claude.
• Claude Code installed on your local development machine. Install Claude Code from your terminal.

To learn how to connect an AI tool other than Claude Code, see the Unstructured Foundation installation overview.

Set up Foundation

1. From your terminal, within a Claude Code session, add the Foundation MCP server plugin marketplace:

   /plugin marketplace add Unstructured-IO/unstructured-foundation-marketplace
   

2. Use the marketplace you just added to install the Foundation MCP server:

   /plugin install foundation@unstructured-foundation
   

   Claude Code prompts you to choose an install scope. The install scope determines which Claude Code sessions can use Foundation. Select User scope, which makes Foundation available in every session.

   Scope	Where Foundation is available	When to use it
   User scope	Every Claude Code session, in any directory	You want Foundation available everywhere you work.
   Project scope	Sessions started in the current repository, for everyone who clones it	Your team shares the same sources and wants the plugin checked into the repository.
   Local scope	Sessions started in the current repository, for you alone	You are evaluating Foundation and do not want to change the repository.

3. Reload and then begin connecting to the Foundation MCP server from within a Claude session:

   /reload-plugins
   /mcp
   

   Find and select the plugin:foundation:foundation entry, and then select Authenticate.

4. A web browser tab appears, prompting you to authenticate with Foundation. Enter your email address, and Unstructured emails you an access code. This code arrives in its own email, separate from your Early Access acceptance email. Enter the access code, and then accept the terms of service to finish authenticating.

Connect to and index your source

1. Within a Claude Code session in your terminal, enter the following prompt:

   /foundation:connect
   

2. Click the link that appears in the response.

   If the link does not appear, go to the following link in your web browser instead: https://foundation.unstructured.io/connect

3. If prompted, log in to Foundation.

4. The Connect sources to use Foundation page appears.

   

   If this page does not appear after you sign in to Foundation, click the New Source button to show a page with similar functionality.

5. Click one of the available sources, and then click Connect.

6. Follow the on-screen directions to finish connecting to your source.

7. View the source files’ ingestion and indexing job’s progress. To do this, on the sidebar, click Summary.

8. Wait until the source’s tile displays Fully indexed.

9. You can now start using Claude Code to work with the generated index. For example, you can ask Claude Code questions such as the following:

   What is a summary of the kinds of information that are available in the Unstructured Foundation index about my sources?
   
   What are some examples of the kinds of questions I can ask the Unstructured Foundation index about my sources?
   

Approve Foundation tool calls once

Claude Code asks you to approve each Foundation tool the first time it calls that tool. Approving the tools up front means you are not interrupted as you work.

When an approval prompt appears, select Yes, don’t ask again to approve that tool permanently.

To approve every Foundation tool before you start querying, add the Foundation MCP server to the permissions.allow list in your Claude Code settings.json file. This file is typically located at:

• For macOS and Linux: ~/.claude/settings.json
• For Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "mcp__plugin_foundation_foundation"
    ]
  }
}

To approve one tool at a time instead, append the tool name to the rule. To review which rules are in effect and the file that each rule comes from, run /permissions.

(Optional) Clean up

After you connect Foundation to your source files, Foundation periodically runs an automatic process to check whether any of your source files’ contents have changed. Foundation will then re-ingest and re-index each source file that it determines has changed since its last check. This process, if left running, can result in additional time and costs.

To have Foundation pause or resume periodically running this automatic process, then follow the instructions to pause or resume the source.

To stop Foundation from periodically running this automatic process, and to also have Foundation delete all of its ingested and indexed information about your source files, follow the instructions to remove the source.

Next steps

• To learn more about how to use Unstructured Foundation, enter the following prompt in Claude Code:

  /foundation:help

• Manage your Foundation sources: Add, change, and remove sources from Foundation.

• Foundation storage: Understand what artifacts that Foundation generates, indexes, and stores about your sources.

• Troubleshoot Foundation: Solutions for common issues.

Questions? Need help?

• For general questions about Unstructured products and pricing, email Unstructured Sales at [e-mail].
• For technical support, see request support.