Clipperd

Seamless clipboard sync between iPhone and Linux over your local network — no cloud, no account, no data leaving your LAN.

Works like Apple's Universal Clipboard, but for Linux. Copy on your iPhone, paste on Linux (and vice versa) with a single tap.

How it works

A small daemon runs on Linux and exposes a local HTTPS endpoint. Two iOS Shortcuts talk to it — one to push your iPhone clipboard to Linux, one to pull the Linux clipboard to your iPhone. Everything is encrypted with TLS and protected by a per-device secret token.

iPhone (iOS Shortcuts)
    │  HTTPS POST → push clipboard to Linux
    │  HTTPS GET  ← pull clipboard from Linux
    ▼
clipperd daemon (Rust)
    ├── axum HTTPS server  (port 7171)
    ├── clipboard watcher  (Wayland + X11)
    └── self-signed TLS    (rcgen)

Features

• Text, images, URLs, and files
• Bidirectional sync
• Wayland and X11 support (auto-detected)
• Self-signed TLS with a per-device CA — no external certificate authority
• 256-bit random auth token
• Runs as a systemd user service
• Zero cloud dependency

Requirements

Linux

• Rust 1.75+
• Wayland compositor with wl-data-control support, or X11 with xclip
• notify-send for desktop notifications (optional)

iPhone

• iOS 13+
• Shortcuts app (built-in)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/SevcikMichal/clipperd
cd clipperd
cargo build --release
cp target/release/clipperd ~/.local/bin/

Setup

Run setup to generate keys and pair your iPhone:

clipperd setup

On first run this will:

1. Generate a self-signed CA and server certificate
2. Generate a secret auth token
3. Print a QR code and start a temporary setup server

If config already exists, clipperd setup reuses the existing keys and token and just starts the setup server again — useful if you need to re-install the certificate or shortcuts on a new device.

Then on your iPhone:

1. Scan the QR code — Safari opens the setup page
2. Tap Install Certificate and follow the prompts
3. Go to Settings → General → About → Certificate Trust Settings and enable full trust for Clipperd CA
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to build the two Shortcuts

Note: The setup server only runs while clipperd setup is active and serves only on your local network. Stop it with Ctrl+C once pairing is complete.

Running the daemon

clipperd run

Or install as a systemd user service so it starts automatically:

cp systemd/clipperd.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now clipperd

Usage

Assign the two Shortcuts to Back Tap for fastest access:

Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap

Shortcut	Direction	Suggested trigger
Clipperd Send	iPhone → Linux	Double tap
Clipperd Get	Linux → iPhone	Triple tap

One tap syncs the clipboard in under a second.

CLI reference

clipperd setup    Generate keys (first run) and start the pairing wizard
clipperd run      Run the clipboard sync daemon
clipperd status   Show configuration and certificate info

Options for setup:

--port <PORT>    Port to listen on (default: 7171)
--bind-all       Bind to 0.0.0.0 instead of LAN IP

Security

• All traffic is TLS 1.3 encrypted — the token and clipboard contents are never sent in plaintext
• The auth token is 256 bits of random entropy — not guessable
• Token comparison uses constant-time equality to prevent timing attacks
• The daemon binds to your LAN IP only by default — not exposed to the internet
• Config and keys are stored at ~/.config/clipperd/config.toml with mode 0600
• No data ever touches a third-party server

The setup page briefly displays your auth token over plain HTTP so you can copy it into Shortcuts. Run setup only on a network you trust, and stop it once pairing is done.

Supported content types

Type	iPhone → Linux	Linux → iPhone
Plain text	✓	✓
URLs	✓	✓
Images (PNG/JPEG)	✓	✓
Files	✓ (saved to ~/Downloads)	—

License

MIT