📋 Pasteboard for macOS

A native, privacy-first clipboard manager for macOS power users.

Built with SwiftUI and AppKit — lives in your menubar, stays out of your way.

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📸 Screenshots

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🚀 Auto-Paste	Select any history item and it instantly pastes into your active app
🔄 Automatic Capture	Every piece of copied text is silently saved to your local history
⌨️ Global Hotkey	Press ⌘ Shift V from any application to summon the history panel
🔍 Quick Search	Real-time, case-insensitive search across your entire history
🧩 Native Experience	Lives in the menubar — no Dock clutter, no distractions
🛡️ Privacy Focused	Zero analytics, zero cloud sync. Your clipboard never leaves your Mac

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🚀 Installation

Option 1: Install Script (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/Pasteboard.git
cd Pasteboard
chmod +x *.sh
./install.sh

This builds a release binary and installs Pasteboard.app to /Applications.

Option 2: Build via Xcode CLI

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/Pasteboard.git
cd Pasteboard
xcodebuild -project Pasteboard.xcodeproj \
           -scheme Pasteboard \
           -configuration Release build

Option 3: Open in Xcode

1. Clone the repo
2. Open Pasteboard.xcodeproj
3. Press ⌘R to build and run

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🗑 Uninstall

cd Pasteboard
./uninstall.sh

Or simply drag /Applications/Pasteboard.app to the Trash.

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🛠 Requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Xcode Command Line Tools — install via xcode-select --install
• Accessibility Permissions — required for the global hotkey and auto-paste features

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⚠️ Troubleshooting Permissions

If the hotkey or auto-paste features are not working after launch:

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
2. Important: Select Pasteboard and click the minus (−) button to remove it
3. Relaunch the app and grant permission again when prompted

This is a known macOS behavior — re-granting permission forces the system to re-register the accessibility entitlement correctly.

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📁 Architecture

Pasteboard/
├── App/
│   ├── PasteboardApp.swift          # App entry point
│   └── AppDelegate.swift            # Menubar & hotkey management
├── Models/
│   └── ClipboardItem.swift          # Data model for history entries
├── Services/
│   └── ClipboardStore.swift         # Clipboard observer & persistence
├── Views/
│   ├── ClipboardHistoryView.swift   # Main history panel UI
│   └── ClipboardRowView.swift       # Individual history item UI
├── Utilities/
│   └── Color+Hex.swift              # SwiftUI styling extensions
└── Resources/
    ├── Info.plist                   # App metadata
    └── Pasteboard.entitlements      # App capabilities

Key Design Decisions

• Hybrid Architecture — SwiftUI handles the UI layer; AppKit manages native menubar integration for a truly Mac-first feel.
• Accessibility Integration — Uses CGEvent simulation to deliver auto-paste without the user needing to switch focus.
• Global Hotkeys — Leverages the Carbon framework for low-latency global event monitoring (⌘ Shift V).
• Persistence — Clipboard history is stored locally using UserDefaults with JSON encoding — fast, simple, and private.

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🗺 Roadmap

These are features planned or being considered for future releases. Community contributions are very welcome!

• Pinned items — Pin frequently used snippets to the top of your history
• Rich content support — Capture and preview images from the clipboard
• Configurable history limit — Let users set how many items to retain
• Custom hotkey — Allow users to rebind the global shortcut in Settings
• iCloud Sync (opt-in) — Optionally sync clipboard history across devices
• Exclusion list — Ignore clipboard content from specified apps (e.g. password managers)
• Multiple themes — Light, dark, and system-matched appearance options
• Export history — Dump clipboard history to a plain text or JSON file

Have an idea? Open a feature request →

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are what make open source great. All kinds of contributions are welcome — bug fixes, new features, documentation improvements, and more.

Getting Started

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone your fork: git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/Pasteboard.git
3. Create a branch for your change: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
4. Make your changes and test thoroughly on macOS 13+
5. Commit using a clear message: git commit -m "feat: add pinned items support"
6. Push to your fork: git push origin feature/your-feature-name
7. Open a Pull Request against the main branch

Guidelines

• Follow existing Swift style conventions in the codebase
• Keep pull requests focused — one feature or fix per PR
• Add inline comments for non-obvious logic, especially around AppKit/Carbon APIs
• Test on macOS 13 (Ventura) and macOS 14 (Sonoma) if possible
• For large changes, please open an issue first to discuss the approach

Reporting Bugs

Please use the GitHub Issues tracker. Include:

• macOS version
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behaviour
• Any relevant console logs from Console.app filtered by Pasteboard

Code of Conduct

This project follows the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold a respectful and inclusive environment.

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📜 Changelog

v1.0.0 — Initial Release (2026-03-30)

This is the first public release of Pasteboard for macOS. 🎉

Added

• Automatic clipboard capture for all copied text
• Global hotkey (⌘ Shift V) to open the history panel from any app
• Real-time, case-insensitive search across clipboard history
• One-click auto-paste into the active application
• Native menubar integration — no Dock icon
• Local persistence via UserDefaults + JSON encoding
• MIT License

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤️ for the macOS community · Report a Bug · Request a Feature