Access Etherpad

User interface: https://<SERVER_IP>
Admin interface: https://<SERVER_IP>/admin
Admin credentials: Username admin, password stored in .env as ADMIN_PASSWORD

Add Users via Admin Settings

1. Visit: https://<SERVER_IP>/admin

2. Go to Settings.

3. A JSON configuration file will be displayed.

4. Locate the users section:

  "users": {
    "admin": {
      // 1) "password" can be replaced with "hash" if you install ep_hash_auth
      // 2) please note that if password is null, the user will not be created
      "password": "${ADMIN_PASSWORD:null}",
      "is_admin": true
    },
    "user": {
      // 1) "password" can be replaced with "hash" if you install ep_hash_auth
      // 2) please note that if password is null, the user will not be created
      "password": "test",
      "is_admin": false
    }
  },

5. Add a new user (follow valid JSON syntax):

  "users": {
    "admin": {
      // 1) "password" can be replaced with "hash" if you install ep_hash_auth
      // 2) please note that if password is null, the user will not be created
      "password": "${ADMIN_PASSWORD:null}",
      "is_admin": true
    },
    "user": {
      // 1) "password" can be replaced with "hash" if you install ep_hash_auth
      // 2) please note that if password is null, the user will not be created
      "password": "test",
      "is_admin": false
    },
    "newuser": {
      "password": "strongpassword",
      "is_admin": false
    }
  },

6. Click Save Settings.

7. Click Restart Etherpad.

Important Files and Directories

Application installation: /root/etherpad
Docker Compose file: /root/etherpad/docker-compose.yml
Environment variables: /root/etherpad/.env
PostgreSQL database data: /var/lib/docker/volumes/etherpad_postgres_data/_data
Etherpad runtime data: /var/lib/docker/volumes/etherpad_etherpad-var/_data
Plugins directory: /var/lib/docker/volumes/etherpad_plugins/_data
Nginx configuration: /etc/nginx/sites-available/etherpad
SSL certificates: /etc/nginx/ssl/

Service Management

List containers:

docker ps

Restart containers:

docker compose -f /root/etherpad/docker-compose.yml restart

Follow Etherpad logs:

docker compose -f /root/etherpad/docker-compose.yml logs -f

Restart Nginx:

systemctl restart nginx

Enabling SSL with a Domain

1. Point your domain to the server IP.

2. Edit Nginx config and replace both server_name <IP>; with your domain (<your-domain>) for both HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) blocks:

vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/etherpad

3. Install Certbot:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

4. Run the following command to generate a valid Let’s Encrypt certificate:

certbot certonly --nginx --non-interactive --agree-tos --email [email protected] -d yourdomain.com

5. Replace SSL paths in Nginx config:

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/etherpad
# Before:
    # ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/privkey.pem;
# After:
    # ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

6. Restart Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl restart nginx

7. Open your browser and visit: https://yourdomain.com

Notes

Etherpad is served behind an Nginx reverse proxy for SSL termination and improved security.
A self-signed certificate may trigger browser warnings; this is expected unless Let’s Encrypt is used.
Some browsers may display errors or cause Etherpad to function incorrectly.
Etherpad has been tested and confirmed working on Firefox, which is recommended for best compatibility.

Etherpad

Application Details