ep_images_extended – Extended image plugin for etherpad

Insert, resize, float, copy, cut & delete images.
ep_images_extended builds on ep_image_insert and other image upload plugins.
The main difference is that images are built as custom span structures using the CSS background image attribute. This bypasses the Content Collector which always requires images to be block-level styles (so they couldn't share the line with text). As a result, we can now type around images, which allows the creation of more interactive pad content. The plugin includes some other features like click + drag resize, image float, and cut/copy/delete through a context menu. It was designed for compatibility with my forthcoming tables plugin. It's a pretty heavyweight plugin (some would say overengineered), because I was prioritizing meeting functional requirements for my project. Etherpad wizards might have tips for optimization, it would surely be appreciated.

Installation

Install via the plugins menu or through:

pnpm run plugins i ep_images_extended

in your etherpad-lite directory.

Configuration (settings.json)

Create (or merge) an ep_images_extended block at the root of settings.json.

| key | type | default | description | |-----|------|---------|-------------| | fileTypes | Array<string> | none | List of extensions (no dot) that are allowed to upload. If omitted any MIME that starts with image/ is accepted. | | maxFileSize | Number (bytes) | unlimited | Reject files larger than this size. | | storage | Object | { "type": "base64" } | Where the image binary ends up. See below. |

Storage strategies

1. Embedded Base-64 (default – zero config)

      "ep_images_extended": {
        "storage": {               
          "type": "base64" 
        },
        "fileTypes": ["jpeg", "jpg", "png", "gif", "bmp", "webp"],
        "maxFileSize": 5000000
      }

   Images are converted to data-URIs and live inside the pad. This has a pretty big performance impact.

2. Amazon S3 with presigned uploads

   "ep_images_extended": {
     "storage": {
       "type":   "s3_presigned",
       "region": "us-east-1",
       "bucket": "my-etherpad-images",
       "publicURL": "https://cdn.example.com/",    // optional – defaults to the S3 URL
       "expires": 900                               // optional – seconds (default 600)
     },
     "fileTypes": ["png", "jpg", "webp"],
     "maxFileSize": 10485760
   }

   The browser asks the Etherpad server for a presigned PUT URL, then uploads straight to S3 – the file never touches your app server. Access keys are not read from settings.json.* The AWS SDK picks them up from environment variables.

   • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
   • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
   • AWS_SESSION_TOKEN (if using temporary credentials)

3. Local disk storage (files saved on the Etherpad server)

   "ep_images_extended": {
     "storage": {
       "type": "local",                 // enable disk uploads
       "baseFolder": "static/images",   // optional – path relative to Etherpad root
       "baseURL": "https://pad.example.com/etherpad-lite/static/images/" // optional – public URL prefix
     },
     "fileTypes": ["jpeg", "jpg", "png", "gif"],
     "maxFileSize": 5000000
   }

   The browser POSTs the file to /pluginfw/ep_images_extended/upload. Etherpad writes it to baseFolder/<padId>/<uuid>.ext and returns the public URL.

Contributing

This was mostly made by LLMs (my requirements in this project were far beyond my coding ability at this time). Bug reports & PRs are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for the coding guidelines and branching model.

Credits / Upstream

This plugin started as a heavy rewrite of ep_image_insert by Mamy Linx, John McLear, Ilmar Türk and other contributors.