edsrv

Is a "edit server" (edsrv) backend for browser extensions like TextEditAid, TextAidToo, withExEditor and possibly more supporting the same API.

Installation

The preferred installation method is using a pre-compiled executable available on releases.

Alternatively, use the Makefile target install to build and copy the edsrv executable to /usr/local/bin (PREFIX):

make install

Another supported approach is using go install:

go install github.com/otaviof/edsrv/cmd/edsrv@latest

Usage

The edit-server needs to run on the background in order to respond the text edit requests coming from your favorite browser extension.

To start the service run edsrv start with appropriate flags:

edsrv start --addr="127.0.0.1:8928" --tmp-dir="${TMPDIR}" --editor="${EDITOR}"

The subcommand start supports the following command-line flags:

Flag	Default	Description
--addr	127.0.0.1:8929	Listen address, interface and port
--tmp-dir	${TMPDIR}	Temporary directory to store edited payload
--editor	${EDITOR}	Editor to edit the payload

By default edsrv start uses the regular temporary directory configured on your shell (${TMPDIR}) and editor (${EDITOR}).

Once the edit-server is running, you can use the status subcommand to confirm the servier is running, and peek runtime configuration:

edsrv status

macOS Service

For macOS users, consider the edsrv.plist launchd service file details, adapt to your needs. To deploy the launchd based service, run:

make deploy-launchd

API

The edit-server API contains two only two endpoints, enabling users to edit the payload with the external editor, and check the service status.

POST /

Edits the request body payload using the external editor (--editor).

First, the body payload is stored on a new randomly named temporary file, under --tmp-dir directory. Then, the external editor (--editor) gets invoked blocking the request until completed. Once completed the response body carries the temporary file content and deletes it.

Thus, the --editor flag must be configured to wait until completed, like for instance code -w, -w implies the command line will wait until file is closed.

GET /status

The endpoint shows the configured editor and temporary directory, i.e.:

$ curl -s 127.0.0.1:8928/status
editor='code -n -w', tmpDir='/tmp'

The same output is shown on edsrv status subcommand.

Contributing

To know more details about the project automation please consider CONTRIBUTING.md.