diff --git a/beater/beater.go b/beater/beater.go
index c9de6beb85c..95aa36c0b5a 100644
--- a/beater/beater.go
+++ b/beater/beater.go
@@ -592,3 +592,26 @@ func newSourcemapStore(beatInfo beat.Info, cfg *config.SourceMapping) (*sourcema
 	index := strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.IndexPattern, "%{[observer.version]}", beatInfo.Version)
 	return sourcemap.NewStore(esClient, index, cfg.Cache.Expiration)
 }
+
+// WrapRunServerWithProcessors wraps runServer such that it wraps args.Reporter
+// with a function that transformables are first passed through the given
+// processors in order.
+func WrapRunServerWithProcessors(runServer RunServerFunc, processors ...transform.Processor) RunServerFunc {
+	if len(processors) == 0 {
+		return runServer
+	}
+	return func(ctx context.Context, args ServerParams) error {
+		origReporter := args.Reporter
+		args.Reporter = func(ctx context.Context, req publish.PendingReq) error {
+			var err error
+			for _, p := range processors {
+				req.Transformables, err = p.ProcessTransformables(ctx, req.Transformables)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+			return origReporter(ctx, req)
+		}
+		return runServer(ctx, args)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/transform/transform.go b/transform/transform.go
index 459bc171985..0a3aae7026b 100644
--- a/transform/transform.go
+++ b/transform/transform.go
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@ import (
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/sourcemap"
 )
 
+// Processor can be used to process a set of Tramsformables, giving
+// the opportunity to add or remove by returning a new slice.
+type Processor interface {
+	ProcessTransformables(context.Context, []Transformable) ([]Transformable, error)
+}
+
+// Transformable is an interface implemented by all top-level model objects for
+// translating to beat.Events.
 type Transformable interface {
 	Transform(context.Context, *Config) []beat.Event
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/apm-server/main.go b/x-pack/apm-server/main.go
index 91e02c81b6b..f1f0e6f133b 100644
--- a/x-pack/apm-server/main.go
+++ b/x-pack/apm-server/main.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/beater"
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/elasticsearch"
-	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/publish"
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/transform"
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/x-pack/apm-server/aggregation/spanmetrics"
 	"github.com/elastic/apm-server/x-pack/apm-server/aggregation/txmetrics"
@@ -41,7 +40,7 @@ type namedProcessor struct {
 }
 
 type processor interface {
-	ProcessTransformables(context.Context, []transform.Transformable) ([]transform.Transformable, error)
+	transform.Processor
 	Run() error
 	Stop(context.Context) error
 }
@@ -176,17 +175,11 @@ func runServerWithProcessors(ctx context.Context, runServer beater.RunServerFunc
 		return runServer(ctx, args)
 	}
 
-	origReport := args.Reporter
-	args.Reporter = func(ctx context.Context, req publish.PendingReq) error {
-		var err error
-		for _, p := range processors {
-			req.Transformables, err = p.ProcessTransformables(ctx, req.Transformables)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-		}
-		return origReport(ctx, req)
+	transformProcessors := make([]transform.Processor, len(processors))
+	for i, p := range processors {
+		transformProcessors[i] = p
 	}
+	runServer = beater.WrapRunServerWithProcessors(runServer, transformProcessors...)
 
 	g, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 	for _, p := range processors {