diff --git a/.genignore b/.genignore
index ab9191ff..185d456e 100644
--- a/.genignore
+++ b/.genignore
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 # https://www.speakeasyapi.dev/docs/customize-sdks/monkey-patching
 
-# ignore human-written test files
-tests/test_utils_retries.py
+# ignore human-written files and directories
+src/unstructured_client/_unstructured
+_jupyter
+_sample_docs
+_test_unstructured_client
 
 # ignore Makefile
 Makefile
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3cdf3380..83bf0c26 100755
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@ __pycache__/
 .pytest_cache/
 .python-version
 .DS_Store
+
+# human-added igore files
+.ipynb_checkpoints/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2921f96d..71c41168 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,9 +6,17 @@ ARCH := $(shell uname -m)
 # Install #
 ###########
 
-test-install:
+.PHONY: install-test
+	pip install pytest
 	pip install requests_mock
 
+.PHONY: install-dev
+	pip install jupyter
+
+## install:					installs all test, dev, and experimental requirements
+.PHONY: install
+install: install-test install-dev
+
 #################
 # Test and Lint #
 #################
@@ -16,4 +24,13 @@ test-install:
 .PHONY: test
 test:
 	PYTHONPATH=. pytest \
-		tests
\ No newline at end of file
+		_test_unstructured_client
+
+###########
+# Jupyter #
+###########
+
+## run-jupyter:				starts jupyter notebook
+.PHONY: run-jupyter
+run-jupyter:
+	PYTHONPATH=$(realpath .) JUPYTER_PATH=$(realpath .) jupyter-notebook --NotebookApp.token='' --NotebookApp.password=''
diff --git a/_jupyter/README_example.ipynb b/_jupyter/README_example.ipynb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..51c4f30f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_jupyter/README_example.ipynb
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+{
+ "cells": [
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "cd4f8056-2015-4c28-8974-d9862db07e84",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Setup"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "8b8e5368-6268-4da9-9e8d-5c38637da8a5",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import os\n",
+    "\n",
+    "def get_api_key():\n",
+    "    api_key = os.getenv(\"UNS_API_KEY\")\n",
+    "    if api_key is None:\n",
+    "        raise ValueError(\"\"\"UNS_API_KEY environment variable not set. \n",
+    "Set it in your current shell session with `export UNS_API_KEY=<api_key>`\"\"\")\n",
+    "    return api_key"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "id": "11822c83-0791-432c-b1fb-05d8e2ae25bb",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "\"Usage\" instructions from README for `unstructured-python-client` (as of 01/29/2023)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "5c28a39c-ad38-47a5-8247-a2fa1488313c",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "from unstructured_client import UnstructuredClient\n",
+    "from unstructured_client.models import shared\n",
+    "from unstructured_client.models.errors import SDKError\n",
+    "\n",
+    "s = UnstructuredClient(api_key_auth=get_api_key())\n",
+    "filename = \"../_sample_docs/layout-parser-paper-fast.pdf\"\n",
+    "\n",
+    "with open(filename, \"rb\") as f:\n",
+    "    # Note that this currently only supports a single filea\n",
+    "    files=shared.Files(\n",
+    "        content=f.read(),\n",
+    "        file_name=filename,\n",
+    "\t)\n",
+    "\n",
+    "req = shared.PartitionParameters(\n",
+    "    files=files,\n",
+    "    # Other partition params\n",
+    "    strategy='ocr_only',\n",
+    "    languages=[\"eng\"],\n",
+    ")\n",
+    "\n",
+    "try:\n",
+    "    resp = s.general.partition(req)\n",
+    "    print(resp.elements[0])\n",
+    "except SDKError as e:\n",
+    "    print(e)\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# {\n",
+    "# 'type': 'UncategorizedText', \n",
+    "# 'element_id': 'fc550084fda1e008e07a0356894f5816', \n",
+    "# 'metadata': {\n",
+    "#   'filename': 'layout-parser-paper-fast.pdf', \n",
+    "#   'filetype': 'application/pdf', \n",
+    "#   'languages': ['eng'], \n",
+    "#   'page_number': 1\n",
+    "#   }\n",
+    "# }"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "f5dfdb68-ba5d-4d21-98b2-4efe04126b7a",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": []
+  }
+ ],
+ "metadata": {
+  "kernelspec": {
+   "display_name": "Python 3 (ipykernel)",
+   "language": "python",
+   "name": "python3"
+  },
+  "language_info": {
+   "codemirror_mode": {
+    "name": "ipython",
+    "version": 3
+   },
+   "file_extension": ".py",
+   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
+   "name": "python",
+   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
+   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
+   "version": "3.10.13"
+  }
+ },
+ "nbformat": 4,
+ "nbformat_minor": 5
+}
diff --git a/_sample_docs/layout-parser-paper-fast.pdf b/_sample_docs/layout-parser-paper-fast.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6a318063
Binary files /dev/null and b/_sample_docs/layout-parser-paper-fast.pdf differ
diff --git a/_test_unstructured_client/test_check_url_protocol.py b/_test_unstructured_client/test_check_url_protocol.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2bc0b9fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_test_unstructured_client/test_check_url_protocol.py
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import os
+import pytest
+
+from unstructured_client import UnstructuredClient
+
+
+def get_api_key():
+    api_key = os.getenv("UNS_API_KEY")
+    if api_key is None:
+        raise ValueError("""UNS_API_KEY environment variable not set. 
+Set it in your current shell session with `export UNS_API_KEY=<api_key>`""")
+    return api_key
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("server_url"),
+    [
+        ("https://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io"), # correct url
+        ("unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io"),
+        ("http://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io/general/v0/general"),
+        ("https://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io/general/v0/general"),
+        ("unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io/general/v0/general"),
+    ]
+)
+def test_clean_server_url_on_paid_api_url(server_url: str):
+    client = UnstructuredClient(
+        server_url=server_url,
+        api_key_auth=get_api_key(),
+    )
+    assert client.general.sdk_configuration.server_url == "https://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("server_url"),
+    [
+        ("http://localhost:8000"), # correct url
+        ("localhost:8000"),
+        ("localhost:8000/general/v0/general"),
+        ("http://localhost:8000/general/v0/general"),
+    ]
+)
+def test_clean_server_url_on_localhost(server_url: str):
+    client = UnstructuredClient(
+        server_url=server_url,
+        api_key_auth=get_api_key(),
+    )
+    assert client.general.sdk_configuration.server_url == "http://localhost:8000"
+
+
+def test_clean_server_url_on_empty_string():
+    client = UnstructuredClient(
+        server_url="",
+        api_key_auth=get_api_key(),
+    )
+    assert client.general.sdk_configuration.server_url == ""
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("server_url"),
+    [
+        ("https://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io"),
+        ("unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io/general/v0/general"),
+    ]
+)
+def test_clean_server_url_with_positional_arguments(server_url: str):
+    client = UnstructuredClient(
+        get_api_key(),
+        "",
+        server_url,
+    )
+    assert client.general.sdk_configuration.server_url == "https://unstructured-000mock.api.unstructuredapp.io"
diff --git a/tests/test_utils_retries.py b/_test_unstructured_client/test_utils_retries.py
similarity index 100%
rename from tests/test_utils_retries.py
rename to _test_unstructured_client/test_utils_retries.py
diff --git a/src/unstructured_client/sdk.py b/src/unstructured_client/sdk.py
index 18fb5cb1..9358dbac 100644
--- a/src/unstructured_client/sdk.py
+++ b/src/unstructured_client/sdk.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from typing import Callable, Dict, Union
 from unstructured_client import utils
 from unstructured_client.models import shared
+from unstructured_client.utils._decorators import clean_server_url
 
 class UnstructuredClient:
     r"""Unstructured Pipeline API: Partition documents with the Unstructured library"""
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ class UnstructuredClient:
 
     sdk_configuration: SDKConfiguration
 
+    @clean_server_url
     def __init__(self,
                  api_key_auth: Union[str, Callable[[], str]],
                  server: str = None,
diff --git a/src/unstructured_client/utils/_decorators.py b/src/unstructured_client/utils/_decorators.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd891c2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unstructured_client/utils/_decorators.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import functools
+from typing import cast, Callable, Optional
+from typing_extensions import ParamSpec
+from urllib.parse import urlparse, urlunparse, ParseResult
+
+
+_P = ParamSpec("_P")
+
+
+def clean_server_url(func: Callable[_P, None]) -> Callable[_P, None]:
+
+    @functools.wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(*args: _P.args, **kwargs: _P.kwargs) -> None:
+        SERVER_URL_ARG_IDX = 3
+        url_is_in_kwargs = True
+
+        server_url: Optional[str] = cast(Optional[str], kwargs.get("server_url"))
+
+        if server_url is None and len(args) > SERVER_URL_ARG_IDX:
+            server_url = cast(str, args[SERVER_URL_ARG_IDX])
+            url_is_in_kwargs = False
+
+        if server_url:
+            # -- add a url scheme if not present (urllib.parse does not work reliably without it)
+            if "http" not in server_url:
+                server_url = "http://" + server_url
+
+            parsed_url: ParseResult = urlparse(server_url)
+
+            if "api.unstructuredapp.io" in server_url:
+                if parsed_url.scheme != "https":
+                    parsed_url = parsed_url._replace(scheme="https")
+
+            # -- path should always be empty
+            cleaned_url = parsed_url._replace(path="")
+
+            if url_is_in_kwargs:
+                kwargs["server_url"] = urlunparse(cleaned_url)
+            else:
+                args = args[:SERVER_URL_ARG_IDX] + (urlunparse(cleaned_url),) + args[SERVER_URL_ARG_IDX+1:] # type: ignore
+        
+        return func(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    return wrapper