Productivity

Etherpad

pp-etherpad

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor scalable to thousands of simultaneous real time users. It provides full...

Printed by @JohnMcLear (John McLear)

Install

npx — recommended

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install etherpad

Installs the CLI binary and the agent skill (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and more). Add --cli-only or --skill-only for one half. Requires Node.

Hermes

hermes skills install mvanhorn/printing-press-library/cli-skills/pp-etherpad --force

From the Hermes CLI. Inside a chat session use /skills install with the same path.

OpenClaw

Install the pp-etherpad skill from https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/tree/main/cli-skills/pp-etherpad. The skill defines how its required CLI can be installed.

Paste this to your OpenClaw agent — the skill describes how to install its CLI.

Claude Desktop

This CLI ships an MCPB bundle. Download the latest release .mcpb and double-click it — Claude Desktop walks you through the install.

View source on GitHub →

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor scalable to thousands of simultaneous real time users. It provides full data export capabilities, and runs on your server, under your control.

Learn more at Etherpad.

Printed by @JohnMcLear (John McLear).

Quick Start

1. Install

See Install above.

2. Set Up Credentials

Get your access token from your API provider's developer portal, then store it:

etherpad-pp-cli auth set-token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Or set it via environment variable:

export ETHERPAD_OPENID="your-token-here"

3. Verify Setup

etherpad-pp-cli doctor

This checks your configuration and credentials.

4. Try Your First Command

etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author

Usage

Run etherpad-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.

Commands

anonymize-author

Manage anonymize author

etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author using-post - anonymizes an author across all their edits

append-chat-message

Manage append chat message

etherpad-pp-cli append-chat-message using-post - appends a chat message

append-text

Manage append text

etherpad-pp-cli append-text using-post - appends text to a pad

check-token

Manage check token

etherpad-pp-cli check-token using-post - returns ok when the current API token is valid

compact-pad

Manage compact pad

etherpad-pp-cli compact-pad using-post - compacts a pad's revision history, keeping recent revisions only

copy-pad

Manage copy pad

etherpad-pp-cli copy-pad using-post - copies a pad with full history and chat

copy-pad-without-history

Manage copy pad without history

etherpad-pp-cli copy-pad-without-history using-post - copies a pad without history or chat

create-author

Manage create author

etherpad-pp-cli create-author using-post - creates a new author

create-author-if-not-exists-for

Manage create author if not exists for

etherpad-pp-cli create-author-if-not-exists-for using-post - this functions helps you to map your application author ids to Etherpad author ids

create-diff-html

Manage create diff html

etherpad-pp-cli create-diff-html create-diff-htmlusing-post - returns an HTML diff between two revisions of a pad

create-group

Manage create group

etherpad-pp-cli create-group using-post - creates a new group

create-group-if-not-exists-for

Manage create group if not exists for

etherpad-pp-cli create-group-if-not-exists-for using-post - this functions helps you to map your application group ids to Etherpad group ids

create-group-pad

Manage create group pad

etherpad-pp-cli create-group-pad using-post - creates a new pad in this group

create-pad

Manage create pad

etherpad-pp-cli create-pad using-post - creates a new (non-group) pad. Note that if you need to create a group Pad, you should call createGroupPad

create-session

Manage create session

etherpad-pp-cli create-session using-post - creates a new session. validUntil is an unix timestamp in seconds

delete-group

Manage delete group

etherpad-pp-cli delete-group using-post - deletes a group

delete-pad

Manage delete pad

etherpad-pp-cli delete-pad using-post - deletes a pad

delete-session

Manage delete session

etherpad-pp-cli delete-session using-post - deletes a session

get-attribute-pool

Manage get attribute pool

etherpad-pp-cli get-attribute-pool using-post - returns the attribute pool of a pad

get-author-name

Manage get author name

etherpad-pp-cli get-author-name using-post - Returns the Author Name of the author

get-chat-head

Manage get chat head

etherpad-pp-cli get-chat-head using-post - returns the chatHead (chat-message) of the pad

get-chat-history

Manage get chat history

etherpad-pp-cli get-chat-history using-post - returns the chat history

get-html

Manage get html

etherpad-pp-cli get-html get-htmlusing-post - returns the text of a pad formatted as HTML

get-last-edited

Manage get last edited

etherpad-pp-cli get-last-edited using-post - returns the timestamp of the last revision of the pad

get-pad-id

Manage get pad id

etherpad-pp-cli get-pad-id get-pad-idusing-post - returns the read-write pad ID for a given read-only pad ID

get-public-status

Manage get public status

etherpad-pp-cli get-public-status using-post - return true of false

get-read-only-id

Manage get read only id

etherpad-pp-cli get-read-only-id get-read-only-idusing-post - returns the read only link of a pad

get-revision-changeset

Manage get revision changeset

etherpad-pp-cli get-revision-changeset using-post - returns the changeset at a given revision of a pad

get-revisions-count

Manage get revisions count

etherpad-pp-cli get-revisions-count using-post - returns the number of revisions of this pad

get-saved-revisions-count

Manage get saved revisions count

etherpad-pp-cli get-saved-revisions-count using-post - returns the number of saved revisions of a pad

get-session-info

Manage get session info

etherpad-pp-cli get-session-info using-post - returns information about a session

get-stats

Manage get stats

etherpad-pp-cli get-stats using-post - returns server-wide statistics

get-text

Manage get text

etherpad-pp-cli get-text using-post - returns the text of a pad

list-all-groups

Manage list all groups

etherpad-pp-cli list-all-groups using-post - returns the IDs of all groups on this server

list-all-pads

Manage list all pads

etherpad-pp-cli list-all-pads using-post - list all the pads

list-authors-of-pad

Manage list authors of pad

etherpad-pp-cli list-authors-of-pad using-post - returns an array of authors who contributed to this pad

list-pads

Manage list pads

etherpad-pp-cli list-pads using-post - returns all pads of this group

list-pads-of-author

Manage list pads of author

etherpad-pp-cli list-pads-of-author using-post - returns an array of all pads this author contributed to

list-saved-revisions

Manage list saved revisions

etherpad-pp-cli list-saved-revisions using-post - returns the list of saved revisions of a pad

list-sessions-of-author

Manage list sessions of author

etherpad-pp-cli list-sessions-of-author using-post - returns all sessions of an author

list-sessions-of-group

Manage list sessions of group

etherpad-pp-cli list-sessions-of-group using-post - returns all sessions of a group

move-pad

Manage move pad

etherpad-pp-cli move-pad using-post - moves a pad — copy then delete the original

pad-users

Manage pad users

etherpad-pp-cli pad-users using-post - returns the list of users that are currently editing this pad

pad-users-count

Manage pad users count

etherpad-pp-cli pad-users-count using-post - returns the number of user that are currently editing this pad

restore-revision

Manage restore revision

etherpad-pp-cli restore-revision using-post - restores a pad to a specific revision

save-revision

Manage save revision

etherpad-pp-cli save-revision using-post - saves a revision of a pad

send-clients-message

Manage send clients message

etherpad-pp-cli send-clients-message using-post - sends a custom message of type msg to the pad

set-html

Manage set html

etherpad-pp-cli set-html set-htmlusing-post - sets the text of a pad with HTML

set-public-status

Manage set public status

etherpad-pp-cli set-public-status using-post - sets a boolean for the public status of a pad

set-text

Manage set text

etherpad-pp-cli set-text using-post - sets the text of a pad

Output Formats

# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author

# JSON for scripting and agents
etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author --json

# Filter to specific fields
etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author --json --select id,name,status

# Dry run — show the request without sending
etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author --dry-run

# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
etherpad-pp-cli anonymize-author --agent

Agent Usage

This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:

Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
Pipeable - --json output to stdout, errors to stderr
Filterable - --select id,name returns only fields you need
Previewable - --dry-run shows the request without sending
Explicit retries - add --idempotent to create retries when a no-op success is acceptable
Confirmable - --yes for explicit confirmation of destructive actions
Piped input - write commands can accept structured input when their help lists --stdin
Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless --human-friendly is set

Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.

Health Check

etherpad-pp-cli doctor

Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/etherpad-pp-cli/config.toml

Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.

Environment variables:

Name	Kind	Required	Description
`ETHERPAD_OPENID`	per_call	Yes	Set to your API credential.

Troubleshooting

Authentication errors (exit code 4)

Run etherpad-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
Verify the environment variable is set: echo $ETHERPAD_OPENID Not found errors (exit code 3)
Check the resource ID is correct
Run the list command to see available items

Generated by CLI Printing Press