Clippy v2

A modern cross-platform clipboard manager for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Built with Electron, React, and SQLite.

Clippy runs in the system tray, captures clipboard history (text, images, file paths), and lets you search, pin, tag, and paste items back into any app — with global shortcuts and focus restoration.

Features

• Clipboard history for text, images, and file paths
• Command-palette-style floating panel with search and keyboard navigation
• Global shortcuts: toggle panel, quick paste slots 1–9
• Pin clips, snippets, tags, regex search (/pattern/), filter modes (type:image, pinned:true)
• Rich preview panel, export/import history
• Auto-paste into the app you were using before opening Clippy
• Secure architecture: contextIsolation, preload IPC bridge, main-process clipboard access
• SQLite + file-backed image storage (fast startup, no JSON bloat)
• One-time migration from v1 electron-store data
• System tray with auto-paste toggle, clear history, launch at login

Supported platforms

Platform	Status	Auto-paste	Paste slots
macOS 12+	Full	AppleScript (Accessibility required)	⌘⌃1–9
Windows 10+	Full	PowerShell SendKeys	Ctrl+Alt+1–9
Linux (X11)	Full*	xdotool required	Ctrl+Alt+1–9

*On Linux, install xdotool. Wayland-only sessions may need XWayland or an X11 session for global paste simulation. See docs/PLATFORMS.md.

Development

npm install
npm run dev

Typecheck and build:

npm run typecheck
npm run build

Build installers

Build on the target OS (or use CI) — better-sqlite3 is a native module.

Command	Output
npm run dist:mac	macOS .dmg + .zip
npm run dist:dir	Unpacked macOS .app (testing)
npm run dist:win	Windows NSIS installer + portable
npm run dist:dir:win	Unpacked Windows build
npm run dist:linux	AppImage + .deb
npm run dist:dir:linux	Unpacked Linux build

Unsigned macOS build (local testing):

CSC_IDENTITY_AUTO_DISCOVERY=false npm run dist:dir

Artifacts are written to release/.

Keyboard shortcuts

Panel (in-app)

Shortcut	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate list
Enter / click row	Paste selected clip
Esc	Hide panel
Cmd+F / Ctrl+F	Focus search
Cmd+P / Ctrl+P	Preview selected clip
Cmd+K / Ctrl+K	Focus search (footer hint)

Global

Shortcut	macOS	Windows / Linux	Action
Toggle panel	Alt+Space (default, configurable)	same	Show/hide Clippy
Paste slot N	⌘⌃1–⌘⌃9	Ctrl+Alt+1–9	Paste Nth recent clip

Paste slots always auto-paste, even when the in-app Auto paste toggle is off.

On macOS, slots use Command+Control (not Command+Option) because global ⌘⌥+digit shortcuts are unreliable on recent macOS versions.

Platform setup

macOS

Auto-paste and focus restoration require Accessibility permission:

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → enable Clippy

Clippy prompts on first launch if permission is missing. You can also open settings from Settings → Accessibility → Open Settings.

Windows

No extra permission step. Auto-paste uses the standard Ctrl+V shortcut via PowerShell. Clippy stays in the system tray when the panel is closed.

Linux

Install xdotool:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install xdotool

# Fedora
sudo dnf install xdotool

# Arch
sudo pacman -S xdotool

Restart Clippy after installing. A setup banner appears in the app until xdotool is detected.

Data locations

Clippy stores data under Electron userData:

Platform	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/clippy/
Windows	%APPDATA%\clippy\
Linux	~/.config/clippy/

Contents:

• clippy.db — SQLite database (clips, tags, settings)
• images/ — full-size image clips
• thumbs/ — image thumbnails

Legacy v1 import reads from the old electron-clippy config path on each platform (see docs/V1_BASELINE.md).

Documentation

• docs/PLATFORMS.md — per-platform behavior, troubleshooting, Wayland notes
• docs/V1_BASELINE.md — v1 archive and migration reference
• legacy/v1/ — v1 source code

License

GPL-3.0-or-later