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Show HN: A keyboard-centric clipboard history app for macOS

141 points by Ikryanov 2y ago

Hey HN, As a Software Engineer, I frequently copy and paste content. The fact that macOS clipboard buffer can keep only one item is very frustrating. It’s very annoying to copy → switch app → paste → switch app → copy → switch app → paste, and so on. Losing items I copied hours ago and having to find and copy them again is a waste of time. I tried many third-party clipboard managers like Alfred, Raycast, Paste, Maccy, etc. While great, they didn't fully meet my needs. As a developer, my requirements are: 1. Keyboard-centric operation to avoid using the mouse. I don’t want to waste my time moving my hands from the keyboard. 2. Display many clipboard history items at once. I don’t like the idea with big tiles, so I can see only 5-7 history items on my 32” monitor. 3. Full content preview for each clipboard item. 4. Quick search functionality. So, I created ClipBook for my own use. After months of development, daily use, and positive feedback from my colleagues, I decided to share it publicly. It’s free. All data is securely stored on your computer. I’m planning to make it open source as well. If you try it out, please let me know if you found it useful, if you have anything you’d like me to add, or if you have any other feedback. Happy to answer any questions. Much appreciated.

valtlfelipe 2y ago
Looks awesome! Congrats on the launch. Unfortunately, I can't download the Universal or Intel version, I'm getting a UserProjectAccountProblem error.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  There was an issue with Google bucket. I fixed it. Should work well now. Thanks for the report.
nilawafer 2y ago
<Error> <Code>UserProjectAccountProblem</Code> <Message>The project to be billed is associated with a closed billing account.</Message> <Details>The billing account for the owning project is disabled in state closed</Details> </Error> from gcloud looks cool can you mirror installer on github?
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Fixed. I will mirror installer on GitHub as well. Thanks for the idea!
Unbiased8678 2y ago
Interesting, I've been using raycast clipboard that even stores images. Instead of cmd+shift+v i use cmd+shift+p which is much quicker to pull up.
- nilawafer 2y ago
  Copied content never leaves your computer and is encrypted on your local hard drive. Passwords copied from any password managers and other transient data are ignored by default. https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history
- pjot 2y ago
  Can you explain the cmd+shift+p a bit more? I use raycast as well, but need to opt+space+”c…l…I…”
- winstonp 2y ago
  I do cmd+ctrl+v
- robertn702 2y ago
  Both of those combinations pretty commonly used in other applications cmd+shift+v -> unformatted paste cmd+shift+p -> command palette I use Karabiner and use right_command+v for the clipboard launcher without interfering with the other apps.
- girishso 2y ago
  The only thing missing from raycast clipboard is ability to paste previous 'copy's with a keyboard shortcut.
- mathfailure 2y ago
  Abandonware.
Ringz 2y ago
Didn’t try your app but as a longtime Maccy user: What is Maccy missing from these 4 points?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I like Maccy, but it doesn't let me preview the full content. It crops the large text and adds "..." at the end. Also, I cannot select text in the Maccy's preview balloon/tooltip/popup. It just disapears if I try to work with the text in the preview balloon/tooltip/popup.
NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
What I've discovered is that I don't even want a menu. I want to hold the command key, tap the v key several times, and just have it cycle through until I get the one I want. It'd only release the past when I let up off of command (each tap of V would replace the previously pasted item with the next in this queue/ring). Command-C would just copy into the ring to the first position. Use another hotkey to remove an item, I guess. I don't need a visual history.
- jackthetab 2y ago
  IIRC Flycut did that. Loved it but it only copied text and was abandoned a long time ago.
  - taejavu 2y ago
    Umm should I not be using Flycut? It's still on the app store.
    - jshreder 2y ago
      I'm still a daily-driver of Flycut and love it.
disintegrator 2y ago
I really struggle with clipboard history apps because they are not very far from a keylogger and I don't want to have to trust a developer or third-party code with the contents of my clipboard. Am I being irrational?
- ko_pivot 2y ago
  That’s entirely rational but unless you build from source (and honestly even if you do) there’s an attack vector present. The only real alternative is to review and allow list outgoing network traffic
  - disintegrator 2y ago
    I use Little Snitch religiously and for third-party apps I use occasionally I'm very pedantic with allowing them 10 minutes of network access at a time. It sounds painful to manage but in practice only a few apps are super chatty. Apps that are my daily drivers get more generous network access rules.
- fiddlerwoaroof 2y ago
  Do you only use first party applications otherwise? Any macOS application can poll NSPasteboard and extract your clipboard history and so I don’t see the particular concern with this class of applications.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- msephton 2y ago
  Passwords are excluded from clipboard history if everything is done correctly.
pier25 2y ago
I just use Alfred. Has clipboard history and so much more. https://alfredapp.com/ https://alfredapp.com/
- Carrok 2y ago
  Yea, OP says it doesn't meet their requirements, but Alfred does every requirement they list. It is paid, but I paid 12 years ago and my license key is still working. Great dev(s?).
  - danpalmer 2y ago
    +1 the Alfred devs are lovely people.
  - Ikryanov 2y ago
    Alfred is a good software, but I miss the possibility to resize the clipboard history window to see more content in the preview panel. Same issue (for me) in Raycast. If someone knows how to enable such possibility, please share with us.
    - Carrok 2y ago
      It shows 15 items by default, which seems more than enough for me, and also offers search/filtering. But if for some reason that's not enough, then I guess it does miss out on that one item. I can't possibly imagine why you would need to see more results on the screen at one time, but everyone has different needs I suppose!
      - Ikryanov 2y ago
        Maybe I wasn't clear. I was talking about the preview panel. Sometimes I copy content of a source code (*.cpp) file, and I need to quickly look at what I have copied in the preview panel. I have to scroll a lot to look at the source code. In ClipBook I just resize the clipboard history window to see more in the preview panel without scrolling.
      - 2y ago
nico 2y ago
Looks amazing, love the simplicity Does it support images? Can text clipboard items be edited on the clipboard before pasting? Are you planning on adding snippets? Alfred works really well for me in terms of snippets and clipboard history Except for one use case: quick edits For that, I end up having to paste the content somewhere, change it, (sometimes having to additionally re-copy, then paste in the final destination)
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I didn't enable support for images. It's on the product roadmap. I would like to add support for files too. As for quick edits — I do the same trick too. I will add the quick edit functionality. I miss it too. I'm not planning to add snippets. Alfred and Raycast are really good at this.
  - MichaelTheGeek 2y ago
    Glad to hear this update is coming.
GeekyNerd 2y ago
Raycast has this built in. Don't see the need to install a separate application for this purpose. Aren't such launchers mainstream already?
- deleted 2y ago
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- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I like and use Raycast, but I don't like the fact that I cannot resize Raycast window. It's pretty annoying, because I cannot see enough content in the clipboard history preview.
heavyset_go 2y ago
If anyone is looking for a similar cross-platform and open source solution, CopyQ[1] is handy and scriptable. [1] https://hluk.github.io/CopyQ/ https://hluk.github.io/CopyQ/
- deleted 2y ago
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- kretaceous 2y ago
  +1 for CopyQ. Have been using it on Linux and Mac without problems.
- volteret4 2y ago
  +1 to Copyq, IMO best clioboard manager. It has a lot of functions, yet simple to use as is.
Rygian 2y ago
How does this tool make sure not to historize any passwords copied onto the clipboard?
- deleted 2y ago
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- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I never thought about this. Thanks for asking. I will definitely add it, so you can add any app to the list of software that must be ignored.
  - daaaaaaan 2y ago
    See this site: http://nspasteboard.org/ http://nspasteboard.org/
    - Ikryanov 2y ago
      Thank you so much!
james2doyle 2y ago
Looks nice. I will probably stick with Maccy as it is open source and gets regular updates: https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy
- deleted 2y ago
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- ashconnor 2y ago
  I switched to Maccy after using Clipy for the last few years. Clipy hasn't been updated for a while and doesn't have an arm release. https://github.com/Clipy/Clipy https://github.com/Clipy/Clipy
zmmmmm 2y ago
any functionality to exclude passwords from making it into the history? This is the most annoying thing with Maccy for me (I literally have complex wrapper scripts that turn it on and off when I'm using my password manager which are flaky and annoying to maintain).
- accoil 2y ago
  Have you tried CopyQ? I've not used it on MacOS, but on Windows and Linux it can exclude based off window title: https://copyq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#how-to-omit-storing-text-copied-from-specific-windows-like-a-password-manager https://copyq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#how-to-omit-...
  - volteret4 2y ago
    +1 to copyq. It has a lot of funcionality, you can exclude apps to save clip on log (passwords managers), yo can do personal snippets, images, even create your own scripts.... It has a bit deeper than anything else I tried and yet simply enough to run as is....
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  That’s one of the most requested feature for now. I will definitely add it, so you can add any app to the list of software that must be ignored. Thanks for your feedback!
  - eviks 2y ago
    Are there special "password" copy methods that mark a clipboard element as such so your app could exclude that instead of relying on an apps list (of course if that other app would use this method)?
  - bosky101 2y ago
    One way to implement this would be to have a checkbox to ignore passwords/single words When checked ignore anything that has a space Slick UI. Well done.
kickingvegas 2y ago
FYI, there's an alternate clipboard in macOS called the kill ring (influenced by Emacs) that lets you cycle through previously killed text. The default property is called NSTextKillRingSize. There's a bit of config to do but it still works (Sonoma 14.5 as of this writing) for native macOS apps. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/EventOverview/TextDefaultsBindings/TextDefaultsBindings.html https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Co...
- deleted 2y ago
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OJFord 2y ago
I've been meaning to look for this since switching from Linux at work - will try it out when open source for sure. Are the keybindings customisable? I'm accustomed to Super-c showing my list and Super-v pasting, so now of course I keep messing up because selections aren't copied automatically, Super(Cmd)-c is doing it and not showing a list, and erasing my previous clip... I don't mind too much relearning muscle memory, but I do want to be able to customise a binding so I can settle on something common cross-platform.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  The feature to customize keyboard shortcuts in the app is #2 on the list of requested features. I will let you know when I implement it and open source the project.
jayloofah 2y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago
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osbkca 2y ago
[dead]
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Xclippy looks nice. Upvoted your PH.
Brajeshwar 2y ago
This is awesome, and I feel that this is indeed Alfred's Clipboard Manager on steroids. You did mention trying out Alfred. Without installing ClipBook but reading up on the features, what is missing from Alfred? Alfred's Clipboard Manager is pretty navigable with the Keyboard; the history is as much as there (I don't know about being infinite), and I can also see the preview, etc. I used to have Clipboard managers, but with Alfred + Powerpack, I did away with another program running on the menubar/background. Edit/Update: I just checked Alfred and I can keep plain text, images, files list, for 3 months.
- deleted 2y ago
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- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I don't mind to pay for a software. Most of the software costs like two cups of coffee. The only feature I miss in Alfred/Raycast is that I cannot resize the clipboard history window to see more content in the preview panel. I copy large text and source code files. It's hard to quickly look at the source code in a small preview panel. Maybe it's just me and I didn't find a way to resize the window. If someone knows how to do this, please share with us.
reboot81 2y ago
Love that the app displays shortcuts on the lower left. Why I use Maccy: -Handles images -Removes formatting -Has shortcuts -Offers search -Is installed with Homebrew I often copy huge (+70000) rows of excel sheets. Makes Maccy sluggish. Superlarge clipboard entries I’d like to purge somehow. After X mins if larger than Y?
- wodenokoto 2y ago
  I thought copy in excel only copied the range and it was during paste that data was copied. This is why you can’t make changes to your sheet between copy and paste.
owenversteeg 2y ago
Very nice and clean! Only feature request I have is to allow window repositioning and resizing :)
- bosky101 2y ago
  This should do one thing. Use sizeup or window managers instead
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  You can resize the window using mouse. Like any other regular window. I didn't implement the resizing feature using keyboard shortcuts yet. As for repositioning window, you can drag the window by dragging the panel with the keyboard shortcuts on the left-bottom side of the window.
  - owenversteeg 2y ago
    Ah yes, that's what I meant. I didn't try dragging with the shortcuts panel, that works, thanks!
eranation 2y ago
Ok, I'll be that guy. But what stops a very clever hacker from creating something useful and seemingly naive as this, but adding some hard to find backdoor in it. I was about to just install it but then stopped and thought, what could be the easiest RCE out there. Make a useful app, a catchy domain name, professional landing page, get social proof by getting it to HN front page and have zero people comment what I'm currently commenting... There is no link to source, no link to LinkedIn profile of the creator. I'm sure this is a legit app, but makes me wonder, am I the only paranoid person here?
- xandrius 2y ago
  Yeah, I absolutely need open source for this and me building it fully myself. I wouldn't be able to trust it otherwise, unless it came with the OS itself.
- mortenjorck 2y ago
  I actually had the same thought after I had installed it and noticed that the binary was over 600MB. Sure, it's probably just Electron, but still, it was just enough to get me to hold off on actually trying it for now.
  - rmdashrfv 2y ago
    It's actually not Electron, it appears to be Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), which is what Spotify desktop app uses. I'm speaking completely separately from OP's product: CEF was supposed to be more efficient than Electron, but I think that framework heavily missed the mark. I'd be interested to know why the dev chose CEF instead.
    - Ikryanov 2y ago
      Last year I answered on SO about the difference between Electron and CEF and which one to chose: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70620182/whats-the-diffrence-between-cef-and-electron https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70620182/whats-the-diffr... I actually use an Electron-like framework to make ClipBook, but it's not Electron and not CEF. It's Electron for C++ developers. It's called Molybden SDK. I'm one of the creators of this SDK. I decided to use it, because I know it really well and it allows me to write using C++ and closely work with the operating system. It's very important when you build a software like ClipBook.
dbg31415 2y ago
Only gripe... the default keyboard shortcuts are "paste un-formatted" in a lot of applications. Seems like some other combination of keys would be better to use.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I will add functionality to customize ANY keyboard shortcut in the app. Thank you for your feedback.
jerieljan 2y ago
> I tried many third-party clipboard managers like Alfred [...] While great, they didn't fully meet my needs. > As a developer, my requirements are: > 1. Keyboard-centric operation to avoid using the mouse. I don’t want to waste my time moving my hands from the keyboard. > 2. Display many clipboard history items at once. I don’t like the idea with big tiles, so I can see only 5-7 history items on my 32” monitor. > 3. Full content preview for each clipboard item. > 4. Quick search functionality. But... Alfred literally does all of these? It's part of the paid features though and thankfully yours is free. But still, the functionality is mostly there and I'm actually curious about comparing what you've built versus theirs. https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/clipboard/ https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/clipboard/
- edelans 2y ago
  I was wondering the same. I'm very happy with Alfred and I use the clipboard history a lot. There is just no way back to having only 1 item kept in memory!
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Alfred is cool, but I didn't find a way to resize the clipboard history window, so I can see more content in the preview panel. Same issue (for me) in Raycast. No way to make the clipboard history window bigger. Maybe it's just me and there's a way to enable window resizing in Alfred/Raycast?
  - jerieljan 2y ago
    Okay, that's fair, and I agree, that is something that's lacking in Alfred. The closest I can think of is expanding one item's preview by pressing Shift after Cmd+Opt+C but not the history window itself.
treetalker 2y ago
Those already using Keyboard Maestro will find that its built-in Clipboard Switcher is awesome and has all of these features. And you can set up a custom system-wide shortcut … with Keyboard Maestro. My preferred shortcut is Meta + Q. (I use Karabiner Elements to set Caps Lock to Meta while pressed, and to Escape when tapped. And I also use it to set Right Command + H/J/K/L to work like arrow keys. Makes flipping through the clipboard history a breeze.)
8mobile 2y ago
Hi, thank you very much for clipbook, it's what I was looking for to manage my clipboard simply. I have to read carefully for privacy but I think we are on the right track.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Thank you for your feedback. If you have any questions, please let me know.
trandango 2y ago
I'm really surprised no one has mentioned flycut as an option which has almost every feature mentioned, and is open source https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut.
- dimpalo 2y ago
  Happily using flycut the last few years and it's been amazing. So yeah my question is how clipbook is better than flycut ?
  - robxorb 2y ago
    Not familiar with flycut, but had a look through their issues. There are a few security-related, and a bunch of iCloud stuff. Eg, this one to add the option to disable iCloud sync, which is still open after 4 years: https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut/issues/200 https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut/issues/200 From that it seems clipbook may be better for people who care about local-only or have other security-related concerns (perhaps related to workplace policy, for example). Maybe someone who knows more could weigh in?
avinassh 2y ago
does it make any network calls? any telemetry involved?
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  No network calls and access to external web servers (except when you check for updates). No logs and usage statistics. You can use it offline.
mdavid626 2y ago
Thank you. Could you open the clipboard window on the active screen where the cursor is?
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I think I can add this feature, so you can open the clipboard window on the screen with the currently focused window. I think a screen with the currently focused window should be treated as active. It's because I can keep my mouse cursor on secondary screen and work (type something) inside a window on the primary screen. Or just add both preferences, so you can decide yourself which screen should be treated as active.
  - mdavid626 2y ago
    To be honest I'm not sure which one is better. Where the mouse pointer or where your cursor is. Thank you for considering this.
rrr_oh_man 2y ago
Isn't ⌘ + Shift + V paste unformatted?
scoot 2y ago
> ClipBook stores everything you copy Everything? I'm not seeing any screenshots in the... screenshot.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  It doesn't support images yet. I work mostly with text, so in the first versions I added support of the text content only, but support of images and files on the product roadmap. Will add it later. Thanks for your note. Appreciate that.
parentheses 2y ago
What I'd like to see with a product like this is integration with vim registers: If I yank to anything other than OS clipboard, I see it in the history but not as the latest clipboard item.
praveen4463 2y ago
It's always hard to trust and install desktop apps unless they're open source or coming from a well known dev. But looks promising and useful.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  I will make it open source. It's not a problem at all. Thank you for your comment.
  - croemer 2y ago
    That would be very helpful - I also find it hard to trust without seeing code! I've been using Paste which charges something like $20/year. Maybe you can set up a donation link/Github sponsor or so.
skolind 2y ago
Looks great. I use the clipboard history extension for Raycast: https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history. I find it really useful.
carlosr2 2y ago
Shameless plug: i worked on the same concept but for snippets and recurrent texts you are copying pasting all the time You can check here (osx only): https://shortexts.com/ https://shortexts.com/
alambra 2y ago
I really like the simplicity of this app, but it seems to miss a lot of copy events? Just tested by copy & pasting 9 unique lines in Notes, but Clipbook shows only 3 lines in the history. This is on an M3 Pro running 14.5
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Just checked this scenario on macOS 14.4.1 M3 Max. Works well and copy everything.
animegirl2024 2y ago
Hey man. Your app is userful. I don't like to remember what i have input. Your app can help me to remember it. Thank you for sharing.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Thank you for your feedback. Appreciate that.
anosidium 2y ago
I like the app website. It is simple and easy to read and a bonus point for dark mode support. Is ClipBook a native macOS app? What technologies did you use to make it?
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Thanks for your feedback. I love the dark mode too. ClipBook is written using Molybden SDK. It allows building UI using modern web frontend frameworks like React, Vue, Angular and write business logic using C++. In case of ClipBook: UI — React + shadcn/ui, business logic — C++ + Cocoa. I wouldn't say it's a native macOS app. I would call it a hybrid app that combines web and desktop technologies to build cross-platform desktop apps quickly.
saasxyz 2y ago
I was skeptical when I read the title "yeah, Raycast already does that" but when I visit the site and saw your copy, I am sold. Great work.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Thank you for the feedback. I hope ClipBook will be useful for you.
smcleod 2y ago
The UI looks great, but 245MB and closed source makes it seem slightly sus for something that has full access to your clipboard.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  This size comes from the SDK I use to build the app — Molybden SDK. It's like Electron, but for C++ developers. This SDK allows me to create UI using React and the business logic using C++. As for access to the source code — I see that it's very important for lots of people, so I will open the source code on GitHub. It's not a problem at all.
MichaelTheGeek 2y ago
Very nice work.
xp84 2y ago
Interesting. Will check this out but the Launchbar clipboard manager seems to also meet all the requirements, if you don’t mind pressing spacebar to Quick Look any of the “clips” in your history (I mostly use this for checking images)

141 points by Ikryanov 2y ago

valtlfelipe 2y ago

Looks awesome! Congrats on the launch. Unfortunately, I can't download the Universal or Intel version, I'm getting a UserProjectAccountProblem error.

Ikryanov 2y ago
There was an issue with Google bucket. I fixed it. Should work well now. Thanks for the report.

nilawafer 2y ago

<Error> <Code>UserProjectAccountProblem</Code> <Message>The project to be billed is associated with a closed billing account.</Message> <Details>The billing account for the owning project is disabled in state closed</Details> </Error> from gcloud looks cool can you mirror installer on github?

Ikryanov 2y ago
Fixed. I will mirror installer on GitHub as well. Thanks for the idea!

Unbiased8678 2y ago

Interesting, I've been using raycast clipboard that even stores images. Instead of cmd+shift+v i use cmd+shift+p which is much quicker to pull up.

nilawafer 2y ago
Copied content never leaves your computer and is encrypted on your local hard drive. Passwords copied from any password managers and other transient data are ignored by default. https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history
pjot 2y ago
Can you explain the cmd+shift+p a bit more? I use raycast as well, but need to opt+space+”c…l…I…”
winstonp 2y ago
I do cmd+ctrl+v
robertn702 2y ago
Both of those combinations pretty commonly used in other applications cmd+shift+v -> unformatted paste cmd+shift+p -> command palette I use Karabiner and use right_command+v for the clipboard launcher without interfering with the other apps.
girishso 2y ago
The only thing missing from raycast clipboard is ability to paste previous 'copy's with a keyboard shortcut.
mathfailure 2y ago
Abandonware.

Ringz 2y ago

Didn’t try your app but as a longtime Maccy user: What is Maccy missing from these 4 points?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Ikryanov 2y ago
I like Maccy, but it doesn't let me preview the full content. It crops the large text and adds "..." at the end. Also, I cannot select text in the Maccy's preview balloon/tooltip/popup. It just disapears if I try to work with the text in the preview balloon/tooltip/popup.

NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago

What I've discovered is that I don't even want a menu. I want to hold the command key, tap the v key several times, and just have it cycle through until I get the one I want. It'd only release the past when I let up off of command (each tap of V would replace the previously pasted item with the next in this queue/ring). Command-C would just copy into the ring to the first position. Use another hotkey to remove an item, I guess. I don't need a visual history.

jackthetab 2y ago
IIRC Flycut did that. Loved it but it only copied text and was abandoned a long time ago.
- taejavu 2y ago
  Umm should I not be using Flycut? It's still on the app store.
  - jshreder 2y ago
    I'm still a daily-driver of Flycut and love it.

disintegrator 2y ago

I really struggle with clipboard history apps because they are not very far from a keylogger and I don't want to have to trust a developer or third-party code with the contents of my clipboard. Am I being irrational?

ko_pivot 2y ago
That’s entirely rational but unless you build from source (and honestly even if you do) there’s an attack vector present. The only real alternative is to review and allow list outgoing network traffic
- disintegrator 2y ago
  I use Little Snitch religiously and for third-party apps I use occasionally I'm very pedantic with allowing them 10 minutes of network access at a time. It sounds painful to manage but in practice only a few apps are super chatty. Apps that are my daily drivers get more generous network access rules.
fiddlerwoaroof 2y ago
Do you only use first party applications otherwise? Any macOS application can poll NSPasteboard and extract your clipboard history and so I don’t see the particular concern with this class of applications.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
msephton 2y ago
Passwords are excluded from clipboard history if everything is done correctly.

pier25 2y ago

I just use Alfred. Has clipboard history and so much more. https://alfredapp.com/ https://alfredapp.com/

Carrok 2y ago
Yea, OP says it doesn't meet their requirements, but Alfred does every requirement they list. It is paid, but I paid 12 years ago and my license key is still working. Great dev(s?).
- danpalmer 2y ago
  +1 the Alfred devs are lovely people.
- Ikryanov 2y ago
  Alfred is a good software, but I miss the possibility to resize the clipboard history window to see more content in the preview panel. Same issue (for me) in Raycast. If someone knows how to enable such possibility, please share with us.
  - Carrok 2y ago
    It shows 15 items by default, which seems more than enough for me, and also offers search/filtering. But if for some reason that's not enough, then I guess it does miss out on that one item. I can't possibly imagine why you would need to see more results on the screen at one time, but everyone has different needs I suppose!
    - Ikryanov 2y ago
      Maybe I wasn't clear. I was talking about the preview panel. Sometimes I copy content of a source code (*.cpp) file, and I need to quickly look at what I have copied in the preview panel. I have to scroll a lot to look at the source code. In ClipBook I just resize the clipboard history window to see more in the preview panel without scrolling.
    - 2y ago

nico 2y ago

Looks amazing, love the simplicity Does it support images? Can text clipboard items be edited on the clipboard before pasting? Are you planning on adding snippets? Alfred works really well for me in terms of snippets and clipboard history Except for one use case: quick edits For that, I end up having to paste the content somewhere, change it, (sometimes having to additionally re-copy, then paste in the final destination)

Ikryanov 2y ago
I didn't enable support for images. It's on the product roadmap. I would like to add support for files too. As for quick edits — I do the same trick too. I will add the quick edit functionality. I miss it too. I'm not planning to add snippets. Alfred and Raycast are really good at this.
- MichaelTheGeek 2y ago
  Glad to hear this update is coming.

GeekyNerd 2y ago

Raycast has this built in. Don't see the need to install a separate application for this purpose. Aren't such launchers mainstream already?

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Ikryanov 2y ago
I like and use Raycast, but I don't like the fact that I cannot resize Raycast window. It's pretty annoying, because I cannot see enough content in the clipboard history preview.

heavyset_go 2y ago

If anyone is looking for a similar cross-platform and open source solution, CopyQ[1] is handy and scriptable. [1] https://hluk.github.io/CopyQ/ https://hluk.github.io/CopyQ/

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kretaceous 2y ago
+1 for CopyQ. Have been using it on Linux and Mac without problems.
volteret4 2y ago
+1 to Copyq, IMO best clioboard manager. It has a lot of functions, yet simple to use as is.

Rygian 2y ago

How does this tool make sure not to historize any passwords copied onto the clipboard?

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Ikryanov 2y ago
I never thought about this. Thanks for asking. I will definitely add it, so you can add any app to the list of software that must be ignored.
- daaaaaaan 2y ago
  See this site: http://nspasteboard.org/ http://nspasteboard.org/
  - Ikryanov 2y ago
    Thank you so much!

james2doyle 2y ago

Looks nice. I will probably stick with Maccy as it is open source and gets regular updates: https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy

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ashconnor 2y ago
I switched to Maccy after using Clipy for the last few years. Clipy hasn't been updated for a while and doesn't have an arm release. https://github.com/Clipy/Clipy https://github.com/Clipy/Clipy

zmmmmm 2y ago

any functionality to exclude passwords from making it into the history? This is the most annoying thing with Maccy for me (I literally have complex wrapper scripts that turn it on and off when I'm using my password manager which are flaky and annoying to maintain).

accoil 2y ago
Have you tried CopyQ? I've not used it on MacOS, but on Windows and Linux it can exclude based off window title: https://copyq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#how-to-omit-storing-text-copied-from-specific-windows-like-a-password-manager https://copyq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#how-to-omit-...
- volteret4 2y ago
  +1 to copyq. It has a lot of funcionality, you can exclude apps to save clip on log (passwords managers), yo can do personal snippets, images, even create your own scripts.... It has a bit deeper than anything else I tried and yet simply enough to run as is....
Ikryanov 2y ago
That’s one of the most requested feature for now. I will definitely add it, so you can add any app to the list of software that must be ignored. Thanks for your feedback!
- eviks 2y ago
  Are there special "password" copy methods that mark a clipboard element as such so your app could exclude that instead of relying on an apps list (of course if that other app would use this method)?
- bosky101 2y ago
  One way to implement this would be to have a checkbox to ignore passwords/single words When checked ignore anything that has a space Slick UI. Well done.

kickingvegas 2y ago

FYI, there's an alternate clipboard in macOS called the kill ring (influenced by Emacs) that lets you cycle through previously killed text. The default property is called NSTextKillRingSize. There's a bit of config to do but it still works (Sonoma 14.5 as of this writing) for native macOS apps. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/EventOverview/TextDefaultsBindings/TextDefaultsBindings.html https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Co...

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OJFord 2y ago

I've been meaning to look for this since switching from Linux at work - will try it out when open source for sure. Are the keybindings customisable? I'm accustomed to Super-c showing my list and Super-v pasting, so now of course I keep messing up because selections aren't copied automatically, Super(Cmd)-c is doing it and not showing a list, and erasing my previous clip... I don't mind too much relearning muscle memory, but I do want to be able to customise a binding so I can settle on something common cross-platform.

Ikryanov 2y ago
The feature to customize keyboard shortcuts in the app is #2 on the list of requested features. I will let you know when I implement it and open source the project.

jayloofah 2y ago

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osbkca 2y ago

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Ikryanov 2y ago
Xclippy looks nice. Upvoted your PH.

Brajeshwar 2y ago

This is awesome, and I feel that this is indeed Alfred's Clipboard Manager on steroids. You did mention trying out Alfred. Without installing ClipBook but reading up on the features, what is missing from Alfred? Alfred's Clipboard Manager is pretty navigable with the Keyboard; the history is as much as there (I don't know about being infinite), and I can also see the preview, etc. I used to have Clipboard managers, but with Alfred + Powerpack, I did away with another program running on the menubar/background. Edit/Update: I just checked Alfred and I can keep plain text, images, files list, for 3 months.

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Ikryanov 2y ago
I don't mind to pay for a software. Most of the software costs like two cups of coffee. The only feature I miss in Alfred/Raycast is that I cannot resize the clipboard history window to see more content in the preview panel. I copy large text and source code files. It's hard to quickly look at the source code in a small preview panel. Maybe it's just me and I didn't find a way to resize the window. If someone knows how to do this, please share with us.

reboot81 2y ago

Love that the app displays shortcuts on the lower left. Why I use Maccy: -Handles images -Removes formatting -Has shortcuts -Offers search -Is installed with Homebrew I often copy huge (+70000) rows of excel sheets. Makes Maccy sluggish. Superlarge clipboard entries I’d like to purge somehow. After X mins if larger than Y?

wodenokoto 2y ago
I thought copy in excel only copied the range and it was during paste that data was copied. This is why you can’t make changes to your sheet between copy and paste.

owenversteeg 2y ago

Very nice and clean! Only feature request I have is to allow window repositioning and resizing :)

bosky101 2y ago
This should do one thing. Use sizeup or window managers instead
Ikryanov 2y ago
You can resize the window using mouse. Like any other regular window. I didn't implement the resizing feature using keyboard shortcuts yet. As for repositioning window, you can drag the window by dragging the panel with the keyboard shortcuts on the left-bottom side of the window.
- owenversteeg 2y ago
  Ah yes, that's what I meant. I didn't try dragging with the shortcuts panel, that works, thanks!

eranation 2y ago

Ok, I'll be that guy. But what stops a very clever hacker from creating something useful and seemingly naive as this, but adding some hard to find backdoor in it. I was about to just install it but then stopped and thought, what could be the easiest RCE out there. Make a useful app, a catchy domain name, professional landing page, get social proof by getting it to HN front page and have zero people comment what I'm currently commenting... There is no link to source, no link to LinkedIn profile of the creator. I'm sure this is a legit app, but makes me wonder, am I the only paranoid person here?

xandrius 2y ago
Yeah, I absolutely need open source for this and me building it fully myself. I wouldn't be able to trust it otherwise, unless it came with the OS itself.
mortenjorck 2y ago
I actually had the same thought after I had installed it and noticed that the binary was over 600MB. Sure, it's probably just Electron, but still, it was just enough to get me to hold off on actually trying it for now.
- rmdashrfv 2y ago
  It's actually not Electron, it appears to be Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), which is what Spotify desktop app uses. I'm speaking completely separately from OP's product: CEF was supposed to be more efficient than Electron, but I think that framework heavily missed the mark. I'd be interested to know why the dev chose CEF instead.
  - Ikryanov 2y ago
    Last year I answered on SO about the difference between Electron and CEF and which one to chose: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70620182/whats-the-diffrence-between-cef-and-electron https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70620182/whats-the-diffr... I actually use an Electron-like framework to make ClipBook, but it's not Electron and not CEF. It's Electron for C++ developers. It's called Molybden SDK. I'm one of the creators of this SDK. I decided to use it, because I know it really well and it allows me to write using C++ and closely work with the operating system. It's very important when you build a software like ClipBook.

dbg31415 2y ago

Only gripe... the default keyboard shortcuts are "paste un-formatted" in a lot of applications. Seems like some other combination of keys would be better to use.

Ikryanov 2y ago
I will add functionality to customize ANY keyboard shortcut in the app. Thank you for your feedback.

jerieljan 2y ago

> I tried many third-party clipboard managers like Alfred [...] While great, they didn't fully meet my needs. > As a developer, my requirements are: > 1. Keyboard-centric operation to avoid using the mouse. I don’t want to waste my time moving my hands from the keyboard. > 2. Display many clipboard history items at once. I don’t like the idea with big tiles, so I can see only 5-7 history items on my 32” monitor. > 3. Full content preview for each clipboard item. > 4. Quick search functionality. But... Alfred literally does all of these? It's part of the paid features though and thankfully yours is free. But still, the functionality is mostly there and I'm actually curious about comparing what you've built versus theirs. https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/clipboard/ https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/clipboard/

edelans 2y ago
I was wondering the same. I'm very happy with Alfred and I use the clipboard history a lot. There is just no way back to having only 1 item kept in memory!
Ikryanov 2y ago
Alfred is cool, but I didn't find a way to resize the clipboard history window, so I can see more content in the preview panel. Same issue (for me) in Raycast. No way to make the clipboard history window bigger. Maybe it's just me and there's a way to enable window resizing in Alfred/Raycast?
- jerieljan 2y ago
  Okay, that's fair, and I agree, that is something that's lacking in Alfred. The closest I can think of is expanding one item's preview by pressing Shift after Cmd+Opt+C but not the history window itself.

treetalker 2y ago

Those already using Keyboard Maestro will find that its built-in Clipboard Switcher is awesome and has all of these features. And you can set up a custom system-wide shortcut … with Keyboard Maestro. My preferred shortcut is Meta + Q. (I use Karabiner Elements to set Caps Lock to Meta while pressed, and to Escape when tapped. And I also use it to set Right Command + H/J/K/L to work like arrow keys. Makes flipping through the clipboard history a breeze.)

8mobile 2y ago

Hi, thank you very much for clipbook, it's what I was looking for to manage my clipboard simply. I have to read carefully for privacy but I think we are on the right track.

Ikryanov 2y ago
Thank you for your feedback. If you have any questions, please let me know.

trandango 2y ago

I'm really surprised no one has mentioned flycut as an option which has almost every feature mentioned, and is open source https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut.

dimpalo 2y ago
Happily using flycut the last few years and it's been amazing. So yeah my question is how clipbook is better than flycut ?
- robxorb 2y ago
  Not familiar with flycut, but had a look through their issues. There are a few security-related, and a bunch of iCloud stuff. Eg, this one to add the option to disable iCloud sync, which is still open after 4 years: https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut/issues/200 https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut/issues/200 From that it seems clipbook may be better for people who care about local-only or have other security-related concerns (perhaps related to workplace policy, for example). Maybe someone who knows more could weigh in?

avinassh 2y ago

does it make any network calls? any telemetry involved?

Ikryanov 2y ago
No network calls and access to external web servers (except when you check for updates). No logs and usage statistics. You can use it offline.

mdavid626 2y ago

Thank you. Could you open the clipboard window on the active screen where the cursor is?

Ikryanov 2y ago
I think I can add this feature, so you can open the clipboard window on the screen with the currently focused window. I think a screen with the currently focused window should be treated as active. It's because I can keep my mouse cursor on secondary screen and work (type something) inside a window on the primary screen. Or just add both preferences, so you can decide yourself which screen should be treated as active.
- mdavid626 2y ago
  To be honest I'm not sure which one is better. Where the mouse pointer or where your cursor is. Thank you for considering this.

rrr_oh_man 2y ago

Isn't ⌘ + Shift + V paste unformatted?

scoot 2y ago

> ClipBook stores everything you copy Everything? I'm not seeing any screenshots in the... screenshot.

Ikryanov 2y ago
It doesn't support images yet. I work mostly with text, so in the first versions I added support of the text content only, but support of images and files on the product roadmap. Will add it later. Thanks for your note. Appreciate that.

parentheses 2y ago

What I'd like to see with a product like this is integration with vim registers: If I yank to anything other than OS clipboard, I see it in the history but not as the latest clipboard item.

praveen4463 2y ago

It's always hard to trust and install desktop apps unless they're open source or coming from a well known dev. But looks promising and useful.

Ikryanov 2y ago
I will make it open source. It's not a problem at all. Thank you for your comment.
- croemer 2y ago
  That would be very helpful - I also find it hard to trust without seeing code! I've been using Paste which charges something like $20/year. Maybe you can set up a donation link/Github sponsor or so.

skolind 2y ago

Looks great. I use the clipboard history extension for Raycast: https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history. I find it really useful.

carlosr2 2y ago

Shameless plug: i worked on the same concept but for snippets and recurrent texts you are copying pasting all the time You can check here (osx only): https://shortexts.com/ https://shortexts.com/

alambra 2y ago

I really like the simplicity of this app, but it seems to miss a lot of copy events? Just tested by copy & pasting 9 unique lines in Notes, but Clipbook shows only 3 lines in the history. This is on an M3 Pro running 14.5

Ikryanov 2y ago
Just checked this scenario on macOS 14.4.1 M3 Max. Works well and copy everything.

animegirl2024 2y ago

Hey man. Your app is userful. I don't like to remember what i have input. Your app can help me to remember it. Thank you for sharing.

Ikryanov 2y ago
Thank you for your feedback. Appreciate that.

anosidium 2y ago

I like the app website. It is simple and easy to read and a bonus point for dark mode support. Is ClipBook a native macOS app? What technologies did you use to make it?

Ikryanov 2y ago
Thanks for your feedback. I love the dark mode too. ClipBook is written using Molybden SDK. It allows building UI using modern web frontend frameworks like React, Vue, Angular and write business logic using C++. In case of ClipBook: UI — React + shadcn/ui, business logic — C++ + Cocoa. I wouldn't say it's a native macOS app. I would call it a hybrid app that combines web and desktop technologies to build cross-platform desktop apps quickly.

saasxyz 2y ago

I was skeptical when I read the title "yeah, Raycast already does that" but when I visit the site and saw your copy, I am sold. Great work.

Ikryanov 2y ago
Thank you for the feedback. I hope ClipBook will be useful for you.

smcleod 2y ago

The UI looks great, but 245MB and closed source makes it seem slightly sus for something that has full access to your clipboard.

Ikryanov 2y ago
This size comes from the SDK I use to build the app — Molybden SDK. It's like Electron, but for C++ developers. This SDK allows me to create UI using React and the business logic using C++. As for access to the source code — I see that it's very important for lots of people, so I will open the source code on GitHub. It's not a problem at all.

MichaelTheGeek 2y ago

Very nice work.

xp84 2y ago

Interesting. Will check this out but the Launchbar clipboard manager seems to also meet all the requirements, if you don’t mind pressing spacebar to Quick Look any of the “clips” in your history (I mostly use this for checking images)