Parseur can connect directly to AI models like Claude through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once connected, you can manage mailboxes, upload documents, check parsing results, and set up exports — all by chatting with AI in plain English, without leaving your conversation to open the Parseur dashboard.

This article covers what the integration can do and walks through a few common use cases to get you started.

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude and Cursor securely call external tools. When you connect the Parseur MCP server, the AI gains a set of "tools" it can use on your behalf — for example, listing your mailboxes, uploading a document for parsing, or generating an export link. It decides when to use these tools based on what you ask it to do, so there's no special syntax to learn.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

- An active Parseur account

- An AI account with MCP/connector support (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor)

- Permission to add connectors in your workspace (organization admins may need to enable connectors first)

Connecting Parseur to your AI

Install the Parseur MCP server

The easiest way to connect Parseur to an AI assistant is by using the Parseur MCP server.

This installation requires you to create a local server on your machine and can be tricky for users unfamiliar with the terminal; if you get stuck we highly recommend using an AI agent for assistance while getting set up.

Before you begin

You'll need:

A Parseur account
Your Parseur API key
An AI assistant that supports MCP, such as Claude Desktop or Cursor
The uv package manager installed on your computer (recommended). If you don't already have it, follow the installation instructions on the official uv website.

Why do I need uv?

uv automatically downloads and keeps the Parseur MCP server up to date. You don't need to install Python packages manually.

Configure your AI assistant

Each AI assistant has a slightly different way of adding MCP servers, but they all require the same information.

Create a new MCP server with:

Setting	Value
Command	`uvx`
Arguments	`--from`, `parseur-py[mcp]`, `parseur-py`
Environment Variable	`PARSEUR_API_KEY=YOUR_PARSEUR_API_KEY`

Replace YOUR_PARSEUR_API_KEY with your Parseur API key.

Example configuration

If your AI assistant asks for a JSON configuration, it should look like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parseur": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "parseur-py[mcp]",
        "parseur-py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PARSEUR_API_KEY": "YOUR_PARSEUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart your AI assistant

After saving the configuration, completely restart your AI assistant. It should automatically detect the Parseur MCP server and make Parseur's tools available in your conversations. The server runs locally on your computer and authenticates using your Parseur API key.

Platform-Specific Instructions

Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop.
Go to Settings → Developer.
Click Edit Config (or Open Configuration File, depending on your version).
Add the following server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parseur": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "parseur-py[mcp]",
        "parseur-py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PARSEUR_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the file.
Restart Claude Desktop.

Once restarted, Claude should automatically detect the Parseur tools:

More info:

Cursor

Open Cursor.
Open Settings → MCP Servers.
Click Add Server.
Enter:

Setting	Value
Name	Parseur
Command	`uvx`
Arguments	`--from parseur-py[mcp] parseur-py`
Environment Variable	`PARSEUR_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY`

Save.
Restart Cursor if prompted.

The Parseur tools should now be available inside Cursor Chat.

More info: Cursor MCP Documentation

VS Code (GitHub Copilot Chat)

If you're using the VS Code MCP extension or GitHub Copilot with MCP support:

Open your MCP configuration.
Add the Parseur server using the configuration above.
Save the file.
Reload the VS Code window.

More info: VS Code MCP Documentation

ChatGPT

If you're using ChatGPT with MCP support:

Open Settings.
Navigate to Connectors or MCP Servers (location may vary).
Add a new server using the configuration above.
Save the configuration.
Start a new conversation.

ChatGPT will automatically discover the Parseur tools.

More info: ChatGPT MCP Documentation

What can you ask AI to do?

Here are some common use cases to try once you're connected:

1. Check on your mailboxes

"List my Parseur mailboxes sorted by document count."

"How many documents did the Invoices mailbox process this week?"

2. Upload and parse a document

"Upload this receipt to my Receipts mailbox and tell me what data was extracted."

Claude will upload the file, wait for parsing to finish, and summarize the extracted fields.

3. Investigate a parsing issue

"Why did this document fail to parse? Show me the logs."

Claude can pull document-level processing logs to help you troubleshoot extraction errors.

4. Set up an export

"Create a CSV export for my Orders mailbox with the order number, date, and total fields."

5. Manage fields and templates

"Add a new field called 'PO Number' to my Purchase Orders mailbox."

"What fields does my Invoices mailbox currently extract?"

6. Automate with webhooks

"Set up a webhook so my Zapier flow gets notified whenever a document finishes processing in the Leads mailbox."

Tips

Be specific about which mailbox you mean - if you have several similarly named mailboxes, include the mailbox ID or exact name to avoid ambiguity.
For large mailboxes, ask the AI to filter (e.g., "documents received this month") rather than requesting the full history, since very large result sets can be slow to return.
Destructive actions (deleting a document, mailbox, or export config) will always be confirmed with you before the AI executes them.

Troubleshooting

The AI says it can't find any Parseur tools.

Check that the connector is still authorized under Settings → Connectors (Claude Desktop). OAuth tokens can expire and may need to be refreshed.

A mailbox list comes back empty even though you have mailboxes.

This can indicate a temporary connector-level issue rather than an account problem. Try asking the AI to fetch a specific mailbox by ID as a workaround, and contact support at [email protected] if the issue persists.

The data looks out of date.

Ask the AI to re-fetch - MCP calls are made live against your account, but AI won't automatically refresh information already in the conversation unless asked.

Using Parseur with AI via MCP