Public server with API key? (plus plugin for Obsidian!)

[egradman]

I've written a plugin for a popular markdown editor/knowledge management tool called Obsidian which makes it easy to sync notes with an Etherpad server. A summary of the functionality is below, and the plugin (and a video of it in action) can be found here.

The plugin uses the Etherpad API to get and set pad text. In my README, I inform potential users that they must set up their own server. But I fear that's a hard sell to new Etherpad Lite users!

Are there any test servers with a public API key? Even if pads were deleted after 1 hour, shipping this plugin with a working server would allow potential users to see the possibilities.

(Alternatively: I know I can circumvent the API to get pad content with /export/.... Can I do the same to create a new pad?)

Thanks!

My first draft of everything happens in Obsidian. The second draft usually happens in collaboration with others. I find myself cutting and pasting my work into a Google Doc, sharing the URL with coworkers, and replacing the original with a link to the Google Doc. This makes my work unsearchable, untaggable, and unlinkable.

This plugin uses an Etherpad-Lite server as a lightweight collaboration tool. Etherpad-Lite is a web-based editor with no frills. I've always thought of it as the "pastebin of editors." With this plugin, you can upload any note to an Etherpad-Lite server, share the URL, and allow others to collaboratively edit. The document remains in your vault. Each time it's opened, its contents will be replaced with the latest version from the Etherpad-Lite server.

When you're happy with the results and don't want to sync anymore, simply remove the etherpad_id key from the frontmatter.

[egradman]

Also, I HAVE always thought of Etherpad-Lite as the pastebin of editors. I mean that as a high compliment! I wasn't expecting to ever have to clarify that to the Etherpad-Lite developers.