> This page is for version v2026-02-09 (default).
> For other versions, use one of these documentation indexes:
> - v2026-02-09 (default): https://docs.extend.ai/2026-02-09/llms.txt
> - v2025-04-21: https://docs.extend.ai/2025-04-21/llms.txt
> - v2024-12-23: https://docs.extend.ai/2024-12-23/llms.txt

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.extend.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
>
> ## API version
> The current API version is `2026-02-09`, served at the site root (no version prefix in URLs).
> If this page URL contains `/2025-04-21/` or `/2024-12-23/`, you are reading an older API version.
> Prefer the current docs at https://docs.extend.ai/llms.txt unless the user explicitly needs that older version.
> Do not treat older-version pages as the source of truth for new integrations.

# Dashboard Quickstart

> Parse a document into clean, LLM-ready markdown in Extend Studio, inspect the layout-aware blocks and chunks, then take the generated code to the API.

The [Extend Studio](https://dashboard.extend.ai/studio) is the visual way to build and test processors. It is the fastest path when you want to try Extend on a real document, tune a configuration, and review results before writing any code. Everything you build in Studio runs on the same API, so the workflow is simple: prototype and inspect in Studio, then run in production from the API.

This guide walks through parsing an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) into clean, chunked markdown that is ready for an LLM or a RAG pipeline.

## 1. Open Studio and pick a processor

Sign in at [dashboard.extend.ai](https://dashboard.extend.ai) and open **Studio** from the sidebar. The studio has example documents and results for each processor type.

![Extend Studio landing page with processor types and example documents](/_fern-img/c708954995eda778f74a51d35d3c1057619238027054361d98b3c23940d51a90.webp)

We will use Parse, which turns any document into layout-aware, LLM-ready markdown. Under **Parse**, click the **EOB** example to open it in the playground.

## 2. Review the parsed output

The example opens with a completed run already loaded, so you see real output immediately but normally you would upload a document and click **Run parser**. The document sits on the left with each detected region highlighted, and the parsed output appears on the right.

![Parse playground showing the EOB document with detected regions beside the formatted markdown output](/_fern-img/1c846aa4aac3f35d507b821708c2c8617964c69e1cf6efd9a9571dceabc5bbf6.webp)

The output is available in several views:

* **Formatted** renders the markdown the way an LLM would receive it. It is split into **chunks** (here, 11 of them), with per-page block and character counts so you can see exactly how the document was segmented.
* **Blocks** breaks the document into typed, layout-aware blocks. **Raw** shows the unrendered markdown, and **JSON** shows the full structured response.

Notice that Extend preserves structure that plain text extraction loses: headings stay headings, tables stay tables, and figures and key-value pairs are detected as their own blocks.

### Inspect the blocks

Switch to **Blocks** to see how Extend understands the layout. Each block is tagged with a type (`section_heading`, `text`, `key_value`, `table`, `figure`, and more) and the page it came from, and any block can be expanded to view its raw JSON.

![Blocks view listing typed, layout-aware blocks such as figure, text, and key\_value with their page numbers](/_fern-img/487676fff3646bf624e0f8726adba3cb5e3b573126165e49031c2dd972afd264.webp)

## 3. Configure the parser

Switch to the **Config** tab to control how the document is parsed.

![Studio parser configuration with engine, target format, chunking, and block options](/_fern-img/e501099ddd0fd8a0191219efe8a9663cea60218eaaf54178c72da08d1ebb633d.webp)

* **Engine.** Choose **Performance** for the highest accuracy or **Light** for faster, cheaper parsing.
* **Target format.** Parse into **Markdown** (recommended for LLMs) or spatial output.
* **Chunking.** Chunk by **section**, **page**, or **document**, and set minimum and maximum characters per chunk to fit your model's context window.
* **Block options.** Toggle features per block type, like figure parsing, agentic OCR, agentic table mode, signature detection, and math (LaTeX) parsing.

Change a setting and click **Run parser** to see the effect immediately. For the full reference, see [Parse Configuration Options](/parsing/configuration).

## 4. Take it to the API

This is the step that connects Studio to production. Click **View code** for a runnable snippet in your language of choice.

![View code modal with TypeScript, Python, and cURL snippets for the parse endpoint](/_fern-img/4b3b5bef5d622f6591e41ecbe535c1f0e92af498ed104d387d030f1a3bfefbc8.webp)

The snippet is the exact equivalent of calling the [Parse endpoint](/api-reference/endpoints/parse/create-parse-run), with your configuration inlined. Replace `YOUR_API_KEY` with a key from the [Developers page](https://dashboard.extend.ai/developers) and run it.

## Next steps

You've parsed a document in Studio. Here's where to take it next:

#### [Parse Configuration](/parsing/configuration)

Every engine, chunking, and block option explained.

#### [Response Format](/parsing/response-format)

The full shape of chunks and blocks in the parse response.

#### [Extract structured data](/extraction/overview)

Define a schema and pull exact fields into JSON with the Extract endpoint.

#### [API Quickstart](/api-quickstart)

Run parse from Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, or REST.