v1.3.0

copy v1.3.0

A small, dependency-free CLI tool that pipes stdin to the system clipboard, automatically detecting X11, Wayland, WSL, or macOS backends.

Installation

Prebuilt binaries (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MaxEdgar/copy/main/install.sh | bash

This is the recommended way to install copy. The installer detects your operating system and CPU architecture, downloads the latest release, and installs it to /usr/local/bin/copy. It is safe to run again to update an existing installation.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/MaxEdgar/copy.git
cd copy
make
sudo make install

Changes since v1.2.0

Changed

• Releases now ship as prebuilt binaries for Linux (amd64, arm64) and macOS (arm64), instead of a .deb package. The one-line installer above selects and installs the correct binary automatically.

Supported platforms

Platform	Backend	Notes
Linux, X11 session	xclip or xsel	GNOME/Xorg, KDE, XFCE, i3, most traditional desktops
Linux, Wayland session	wl-copy	GNOME/Wayland, Sway, Hyprland, most modern desktops
WSL	clip.exe	Works by default, no setup required
macOS	pbcopy	Prebuilt arm64 binary provided

Not supported: Android/Termux, and headless environments with no display or session to hold a clipboard.

Usage

echo hello | copy
cat notes.txt | copy
tail -f app.log | copy -n 20
dmesg | copy -c 500 -p

License

MIT

v1.2.0

copy v1.2.0

A small, dependency-free CLI tool that pipes stdin to the system clipboard,
automatically detecting X11, Wayland, WSL, or macOS backends.

Installation

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS (amd64):

sudo dpkg -i copy_1.2.0_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

Any other distribution (build from source):

git clone https://github.com/MaxEdgar/copy.git
cd copy
make
sudo make install

Changes since v1.1.0

Removed

• Termux support (termux-clipboard-set backend). This target depended on
  the separate Termux:API companion app being installed and running, which
  is outside this tool's control and not part of a standard Termux install.
  It was unreliable in practice and has been dropped.

Supported platforms

Platform	Backend	Notes
Linux, X11 session	xclip or xsel	GNOME/Xorg, KDE, XFCE, i3, most traditional desktops
Linux, Wayland session	wl-copy	GNOME/Wayland, Sway, Hyprland, most modern desktops
WSL	clip.exe	Works by default, no setup required
macOS	pbcopy	Build from source; no .deb provided

Not supported: Android/Termux, and headless environments with no display
or session to hold a clipboard.

Full changelog: see CHANGELOG.md

Usage

echo hello | copy
cat notes.txt | copy
tail -f app.log | copy -n 20
dmesg | copy -c 500 -p

License

MIT

v1.1.0

copy v1.1.0

A small, dependency-free CLI tool that pipes stdin to the system clipboard,
automatically detecting X11, Wayland, WSL, macOS, or Termux backends.

Installation

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS (amd64):

sudo dpkg -i copy_1.1.0_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

Any other distribution (build from source):

git clone https://github.com/MaxEdgar/copy.git
cd copy
make
sudo make install

What's new in this release

• -n, --lines N — copy only the last N lines of input, like tail -n
• -c, --chars N — copy only the last N characters of input
• -p, --print — also print the copied text to stdout, to verify it
• -k, --keep-newline — preserve a trailing newline (stripped by default)
• -h, --help and -v, --version flags
• Manual page: man copy
• Input buffer now grows dynamically instead of using a fixed cap, with
  a 512 MB safety ceiling to prevent unbounded memory use. If ever
  reached, copy errors out and copies nothing rather than silently
  truncating input
• Fixed a bug where a crashed or early-exiting clipboard backend could
  kill the process via SIGPIPE instead of failing gracefully

Full changelog: see CHANGELOG.md

Usage

echo hello | copy
cat notes.txt | copy
tail -f app.log | copy -n 20
dmesg | copy -c 500 -p

License

MIT