Glyph

A fast, keyboard-first clipboard manager for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

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Features

• Persistent clipboard history — text and images, kept across restarts.
• Pin items so they never get auto-pruned, regardless of history limits.
• Groups with custom icons — file your snippets, links, and code blocks into named categories from a 35-icon library.
• Fuzzy search across the entire history.
• Quick paste — ⌘1–⌘9 to paste any of the top nine items without leaving your keyboard.
• QR code for any text item — scan it from your phone instead of e-mailing it to yourself.
• Customizable global shortcut to toggle the window from anywhere.
• System tray support; runs as an accessory app on macOS (no dock icon).
• Light / dark / system theme.
• Auto-start on login, always-on-top, and hide-on-blur are all togglable.
• Cross-platform — macOS, Windows, and Linux from a single Rust + React codebase.

Screenshots

Place your captures in public/ and link them here. Suggested set: main list, group filter, settings, QR modal.

Installation

Pre-built artifacts are published on the Releases page.

Platform status: Only the macOS build is currently released and tested. Windows (.exe/.msi) and Linux (.AppImage/.deb) binaries are not shipped yet, and the app has not been tested on those platforms — expect OS-specific bugs (synthetic paste, global shortcuts, tray behavior, autostart) if you build from source. Contributions to get Windows and Linux to parity are very welcome — see Contributing.

macOS

1. Download Glyphs_x.y.z_universal.dmg — one universal build that runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
2. Open the .dmg and drag Glyphs to your Applications folder.
3. The build is currently unsigned, so on first launch macOS will say "Glyphs can't be opened" or "is damaged". Either right-click the app and choose Open, or run xattr -cr /Applications/Glyphs.app once in Terminal to clear the quarantine flag.
4. Launch it. The first run will ask for Accessibility permission so it can simulate ⌘V when you click an item — grant it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
5. Press the global shortcut (⌘B by default) to toggle the window.

Windows & Linux

No pre-built artifacts are published yet. You can build from source (see Build from source), but the app is untested on these platforms and OS-specific issues are expected. Help wanted — see Contributing.

Build from source

Glyph uses Tauri 2. Install the Tauri prerequisites for your OS first: https://v2.tauri.app/start/prerequisites/.

git clone https://github.com/builtbyoctane/glyphs.git
cd glyph
pnpm install

# Development (hot-reloading dev build)
pnpm tauri:dev

# Release artifact for your current OS
pnpm tauri:build

The built binary lands in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

macOS universal build (Apple Silicon + Intel)

To produce a single .dmg that runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, install both Rust targets first, then build with the universal-apple-darwin target:

rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin x86_64-apple-darwin
pnpm tauri:build --target universal-apple-darwin

The artifact lands at src-tauri/target/universal-apple-darwin/release/bundle/dmg/Glyphs_x.y.z_universal.dmg. The fat binary is roughly twice the size of an arch-specific build but ships as one download.

Required toolchains

• Node.js 20 or newer
• pnpm 10 or newer — the package manager this project uses (npm install -g pnpm, or run corepack enable to pick up the version pinned in package.json)
• Rust 1.77.2 or newer (the version pinned in src-tauri/Cargo.toml)
• Platform deps documented at the Tauri prerequisites link above.

Usage

Open Glyph with the global shortcut (default ⌘B on macOS, Ctrl+B on Windows/Linux). Navigate with the keyboard:

Action	Shortcut
Focus search	⌘ K
Move selection	↑ / ↓ or J / K
Switch group	H / L
Paste selected	Enter
Paste as plain text	Shift + Enter
Quick-paste item N	⌘ 1–⌘ 9
Pin / unpin selected	P
Delete selected	⌘ D
Create new group	⌘ G
Open settings	⌘ ,
Show shortcuts dialog	?
Hide window / clear search	Esc or ⌘ [

The full list also lives in-app at the ? shortcut.

Configuration

Open Settings with ⌘, (or the gear icon in the footer). Available controls:

• Launch on login — start Glyph automatically when you sign in.
• Max history items — soft cap on unpinned items (10–500). Pinned items are never auto-trimmed.
• Toggle Glyph shortcut — record a new global shortcut. Conflicts with other apps are detected before persisting.
• Theme — System / Light / Dark.
• Always on top — keep Glyph above other windows when shown.
• Hide when window loses focus — auto-close as soon as another app takes focus.
• Show footer — hide the bottom hint bar to reclaim screen space.
• Reset — wipe history, groups, and settings.

Settings are persisted via tauri-plugin-store and survive restarts.

Tech stack

• Frontend — React 18, Zustand, Tailwind CSS v4, Lucide icons.
• Shell — Tauri 2.
• Backend — Rust, with arboard (clipboard read/write), clipboard-master (cross-platform watcher), tauri-plugin-store (persistence), tauri-plugin-global-shortcut (system-wide hotkey), tauri-plugin-autostart (login items), and enigo / osascript / xdotool for synthetic paste keystrokes.

Project structure

glyph/
├── public/                    static assets (icon, screenshots)
├── src/                       React app
│   ├── App.tsx
│   ├── components/            shared UI primitives (Kbd, …)
│   ├── features/
│   │   ├── clipboard/         list, item row, modals, shortcut hook
│   │   └── settings/          settings page, recorder, toggles
│   └── store/                 Zustand store (talks to Tauri commands)
├── src-tauri/                 Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs             plugin wiring, tray, window toggle
│   │   ├── commands.rs        all #[tauri::command] entry points
│   │   ├── clipboard_watcher.rs
│   │   └── store.rs           data shape + persisted helpers
│   ├── capabilities/          Tauri permission scopes
│   └── tauri.conf.json
└── ...

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR — it covers local setup, expected code style, and the pre-submission checklist. By participating you agree to abide by the Code of Conduct. Security issues should follow the disclosure process in SECURITY.md.

Looking for somewhere to start? Search the issues for the good first issue label, or pick one of the open areas listed in CONTRIBUTING.md.

A note on AI / agentic contributions

You're free to use AI assistants and agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) on this codebase — there are no restrictions. But with great power comes great responsibility: understand what you're pushing and why, not just what. Skim the diff, run it locally, and be able to defend the change in review.

For full transparency: the entire Rust/Tauri shell was migrated from an earlier Electron prototype with heavy AI assistance, back when I wasn't a Rust guy. I can now explain how the code works and why it's written that way — but it took going back and reading every line after the fact. Please don't skip that step.

License

MIT © Glyph Contributors.