Etherpad Python API Docs | dltHub

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative text editor platform that exposes an HTTP API to manage pads, authors, groups, sessions and pad content. The REST API base URL is https://{your-etherpad-host}/api/1 and all requests require an API key parameter (apikey) for authentication.

dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv pip install "dlt[workspace]" and start loading Etherpad data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Etherpad?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Etherpad:

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How do I authenticate with the Etherpad API?

Etherpad uses a single deployment-wide API key. Include it as a query parameter named apikey (or POST parameter) on every request; alternatively older/documentation mentions Authorization header for some deployments but the canonical method is apikey parameter. The API key is generated at server start and stored in APIKEY.txt in the Etherpad root.

1. Get your credentials

1. Access the server running Etherpad (SSH or host filesystem). 2) Locate the file APIKEY.txt in the Etherpad installation root (created on first start). 3) Copy the token value. 4) Place it into your dlt secrets (see secrets_toml_example). Note: Etherpad has no web dashboard for API keys; key management is local to the deployment.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.etherpad_source]
api_key = "your_etherpad_apikey_here"

dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.

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How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

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uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install "dlt[workspace]"

1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:

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dlt ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex

This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →

2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:

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dlt ai toolkit rest-api-pipeline install

This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →

3. Start LLM-assisted coding:

Use /find-source to load data from the Etherpad API into DuckDB.

The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.

4. Run the pipeline:

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python etherpad_pipeline.py

If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:

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Pipeline etherpad_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset etherpad_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/etherpad.duckdb location to store data
Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

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dlt pipeline etherpad_pipeline show

This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.

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Python pipeline example

This example loads listAllPads and getText from the Etherpad API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

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import dlt
from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources

@dlt.source
def etherpad_source(api_key=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://{your-etherpad-host}/api/1",
            "auth": {
                "type": "api_key",
                "api_key": api_key,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "list_all_pads", "endpoint": {"path": "listAllPads", "data_selector": "padIDs"}},
            {"name": "get_text", "endpoint": {"path": "getText"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="etherpad_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="etherpad_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(etherpad_source())
    print(load_info)

To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.

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How do I query the loaded data?

Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.

Python (pandas DataFrame):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("etherpad_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.list_all_pads.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM etherpad_data.list_all_pads LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("etherpad_pipeline").dataset()
data.list_all_pads.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.

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What destinations can I load Etherpad data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.

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Troubleshooting

Authentication failures

If you get code 4 and message "no or wrong API Key", verify the apikey parameter exactly matches the token in APIKEY.txt and that it's passed as apikey (query or POST) or api_key in your client config. The API returns JSON {"code":4,...} for auth errors.

Response format and error codes

All responses use the wrapper {"code":number,"message":string,"data":obj}. code 0 = ok; 1 = wrong parameters; 2 = internal error; 3 = no such function; 4 = no or wrong API Key. Check the message field for human‑readable details.

Pagination and lists

Most list endpoints return arrays inside data under a named key (padIDs, groupIDs, authorIDs, padUsers, savedRevisions, chatMessages). There is no built-in pagination; large responses may be limited by server/client HTTP header size limits (notably header length limit from Node.js for GET requests). Use POST for large payloads (e.g., setText).

Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.

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Next steps

Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI Workbench:

• data-exploration — Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.
• dlthub-runtime — Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.

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dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install
dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install

• How to deploy a pipeline
• How to explore your data in marimo Notebooks
• How to query your data in Python with dataset
• Join the dlt community on Slack