DropVault

Capture Everything. Lose Nothing.
The Visual Memory Layer for macOS.

What's New in 2.0

DropVault 2.0 is a major upgrade across architecture, UI/UX, features, and polish.

New Features

Feature	Description
Menu Bar Extra	Quick-access menu bar icon with recent items, monitoring toggle, and drop zone control
Sorting	6 sort modes — newest, oldest, title A–Z / Z–A, largest first, by category
Grid & List Views	Toggle between the visual card grid and a compact list with alternating rows
Clipboard Monitoring Toggle	Pause/resume clipboard monitoring from toolbar, menu bar, or settings
Open in Browser	One-click open for link items directly in your default browser
Reveal in Finder	Show file items in their Finder location
Tag Removal	Tags now have a remove button — add and remove freely
Copy Confirmation Toast	Animated toast notification when content is copied to clipboard
Export & Import	Export your full vault to JSON, import with automatic deduplication
Shelf Management	Rename shelves, change icons (13 options), delete — all via context menu
Storage Info	Settings shows total storage size on disk

New Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd+Shift+D`	Toggle floating drop zone
`Cmd+Shift+M`	Toggle clipboard monitoring
`Cmd+Shift+N`	New shelf
`Cmd+E`	Export data
`Cmd+Shift+Delete`	Clear non-pinned history

Improvements

Fixed crash-risk force unwrap in drop handler
Settings respect max history limit — was previously hard-coded to 5,000
Eliminated duplicated code — shared design tokens for colors, date formatting, hex parsing
Cached DateFormatters — static instances instead of per-call allocation
Reduced JSON output size — removed prettyPrinted formatting for storage efficiency
Selection highlight — selected cards show an accent-colored border
Smoother hover animations — refined easing and subtler scale effects
Context-aware empty states — different icons, titles, and subtitles per filter
Search result count — badge in search bar showing filtered count
Search focus indicator — accent border when search is active
Toolbar — sort menu, view mode toggle, monitoring status
Sidebar footer — live monitoring status and total item count
Detail view shows shelf assignment, open-in-browser, reveal-in-Finder
Expanded settings — 4 tabs (General, Storage, Shortcuts, About)
Version bumped to 2.0.0

What is DropVault?

DropVault is a next-generation macOS clipboard and drag-and-drop command center built entirely in Swift + SwiftUI — without Xcode.

It transforms the primitive system clipboard into a persistent, visual, organized workflow system.

DropVault is not just a clipboard manager. It is a visual memory layer for the desktop that:

Remembers everything you copy
Accepts anything you drag into it
Organizes content automatically
Turns temporary fragments into reusable assets

Think of it as a mix between:

Concept	What it does
Premium Clipboard Manager	Persistent visual history of everything you copy
Lightweight Local Asset Vault	Store and retrieve text, code, images, files, colors
Drag-and-Drop Inbox	Floating drop zone that catches anything you drag
Visual Staging Area	Cards, previews, shelves for active work

"The clipboard macOS should have had if it were redesigned from scratch for 2026."

Screenshots

Main Window — Grid View

Three-column layout: sidebar filters, card grid with hover actions, and inspector panel.

Card Hover Actions & Selection

Hovering a card reveals quick actions (copy, pin, favorite, delete). Selected cards show a blue border.

Floating Drop Zone

Always-on-top panel — drag files, images, text, or URLs from any app to capture instantly.

Settings

Four-tab settings: General, Storage, Shortcuts, and About.

Features

Clipboard History Engine

Feature	Description
Automatic Capture	Monitors `NSPasteboard` every 0.5s — every copy is captured
Smart Deduplication	FNV-1a content hashing prevents duplicate entries
Source Awareness	Records which app you copied from (Safari, VS Code, Terminal...)
Persistent History	Survives app restart — stored in `~/Library/Application Support/DropVault/`
Configurable Limit	500 to 10,000 items with automatic oldest-item pruning
Rich Previews	Images rendered inline, code in monospace, links with domain badges, colors with swatches
Pause/Resume	Toggle monitoring from toolbar, menu bar, or settings

Menu Bar Extra

Feature	Description
Quick Access	Clipboard icon in the macOS menu bar
Recent Items	Last 10 items — click to copy instantly
Monitoring Toggle	Pause/resume clipboard monitoring
Drop Zone Toggle	Show/hide floating drop zone
App Access	Open main window or quit DropVault

Floating Drop Zone

Feature	Description
Always-On-Top Panel	`NSPanel` floating above all windows, movable anywhere
Drag Anything	Files, images, text, URLs from any app — all accepted
Visual Feedback	Expands and glows when a drag enters, shows success checkmark
Instant Capture	Dropped items appear immediately in history
Toggle	`Cmd+Shift+D` to show/hide

Automatic Classification Engine

Content is automatically categorized using deterministic, rule-based classification — no AI, no cloud:

Category	Detection Rules
Code	Language keywords (`func`, `def`, `class`, `const`...), syntax patterns (braces, semicolons, indentation), markdown code fences
Links	`http://`, `https://`, `www.` URL patterns
Colors	Hex (`#FF5733`), `rgb()`, `rgba()`, `hsl()`, `hsla()`
Images	Image data on clipboard, image file extensions (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, HEIC...)
Files	File URL references from Finder or other apps
Notes	Plain text that doesn't match other categories

Visual Card System

Every clipboard item is displayed as a premium glass card:

Translucent material background (.ultraThinMaterial)
Hover lift animation with smooth easing
Category-colored icon badge (green=code, blue=links, purple=images...)
Source app label (Safari, VS Code, Terminal...)
Relative timestamps ("just now", "5m ago", "2h ago")
Pin / Favorite indicators
Selection highlight with accent-colored border
Quick actions on hover: Copy, Pin, Favorite, Open in Browser, Delete
Context menu: Full actions + Move to Shelf + Reveal in Finder

Grid & List Views

View	Best for
Grid	Visual browsing — card layout with previews, hover effects, and images
List	Power users — compact rows with alternating backgrounds, source app, and timestamps

Toggle between views with the segmented control in the toolbar.

Organization & Retrieval

Feature	Description
Sidebar Filters	All, Recent, Pinned, Favorites + every category
Full-Text Search	Instant search across title, content, source app, tags, URLs — with result count
Sorting	6 modes: newest, oldest, title A–Z / Z–A, largest first, by category
Shelves	Create named collections with custom icons (13 options)
Shelf Management	Rename, change icon, or delete shelves via context menu
Tags	Add and remove custom tags on any item
Pin & Favorite	Keep important items always accessible
Rename	Double-click title in inspector to rename

Inspector Panel

When you select an item, the right panel shows:

Full-size preview (code with monospace, images scaled, colors as swatches)
Metadata: Created date, updated date, source app, file size, category, shelf
Tags: View, add, and remove tags with flow layout
Actions: Copy to Clipboard, Pin/Unpin, Favorite, Open in Browser, Reveal in Finder, Move to Shelf, Delete

Export & Import

Feature	Description
Export	Save your entire vault (items + shelves) as a portable JSON file
Import	Load items from a JSON export — duplicates are automatically skipped
Backup	Use export as a manual backup strategy

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd+Shift+D`	Toggle floating drop zone
`Cmd+Shift+M`	Toggle clipboard monitoring
`Cmd+Shift+N`	New shelf
`Cmd+E`	Export data
`Cmd+C`	Copy selected item
`Cmd+Shift+Delete`	Clear all non-pinned history

Architecture

Project Structure

dropvault/
├── Package.swift                          # SPM manifest — macOS 14+
├── Sources/DropVault/
│   ├── DropVaultApp.swift                 # @main entry, scenes, MenuBarExtra, commands
│   ├── Models/
│   │   ├── VaultItem.swift                # Core data model (Codable, Hashable)
│   │   ├── VaultCategory.swift            # 9 categories with icons & colors
│   │   └── Shelf.swift                    # Named collections
│   ├── Services/
│   │   ├── ClipboardObserver.swift        # NSPasteboard polling engine
│   │   ├── ClassificationEngine.swift     # Rule-based content classifier
│   │   └── PersistenceManager.swift       # JSON persistence + export/import
│   ├── ViewModels/
│   │   └── VaultStore.swift               # Central ObservableObject store
│   ├── Utilities/
│   │   └── DesignTokens.swift             # Shared colors, formatting, sort/view enums
│   └── Views/
│       ├── ContentView.swift              # 3-column NavigationSplitView + toolbar
│       ├── SidebarView.swift              # Category/shelf navigation + management
│       ├── HistoryView.swift              # Grid + list views with sorting
│       ├── ItemCardView.swift             # Glass card with selection + hover
│       ├── ItemDetailView.swift           # Inspector panel + FlowLayout
│       ├── SearchBarView.swift            # Live search with result count
│       ├── SettingsView.swift             # 4-tab settings (General, Storage, Shortcuts, About)
│       ├── DropZoneView.swift             # Drop target SwiftUI view
│       └── FloatingDropZoneWindow.swift   # NSPanel controller
├── Resources/
│   ├── AppIcon.svg                        # Vector logo source
│   ├── AppIcon.icns                       # macOS icon (all sizes)
│   ├── Info.plist                         # App bundle metadata
│   └── DropVault.entitlements             # Code signing entitlements
└── scripts/
    ├── build-sign-notarize.sh             # Full pipeline: build → sign → DMG → notarize
    └── make-icns.sh                       # SVG → iconset → icns converter

Technology Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Swift 5.9
UI Framework	SwiftUI
AppKit Interop	NSPanel (floating drop zone), NSPasteboard (clipboard), NSWorkspace (source app, open URL, reveal in Finder)
Build System	Swift Package Manager (no Xcode required)
Persistence	JSON files in `~/Library/Application Support/DropVault/`
Image Storage	PNG files in app support `assets/` directory
Hashing	FNV-1a 64-bit (fast, deterministic deduplication)
Signing	`codesign` with Developer ID + hardened runtime
Notarization	`xcrun notarytool` (Apple notary service)
Distribution	DMG with stapled notarization ticket

Data Flow

                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │  NSPasteboard │ ← User copies something
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │ poll every 0.5s
                    ┌──────▼───────┐
                    │  Clipboard   │
                    │  Observer    │ → detects changeCount delta
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │ extract text / image / file URL
                    ┌──────▼───────┐
                    │ Classification│
                    │   Engine     │ → code? link? color? image? note?
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │ create VaultItem
                    ┌──────▼───────┐
                    │  VaultStore  │ → dedup → insert → persist
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │ @Published update
         ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐
         ▼                 ▼                 ▼
    MenuBarExtra     SidebarView        HistoryView
    (quick access)   (filters)     (grid/list + toolbar)
                                         │
                                    ItemDetailView
                                    (inspector)

Data Model

struct VaultItem: Identifiable, Codable, Hashable {
    let id: UUID
    var createdAt: Date
    var updatedAt: Date
    var category: VaultCategory       // .code, .images, .links, .files, .notes, .colors...
    var sourceApp: String?            // "Safari", "VS Code", "Terminal"...
    var title: String
    var previewText: String?          // First 300 chars for display
    var rawText: String?              // Full original text
    var fileURL: URL?                 // For file/folder references
    var imageAssetPath: String?       // Filename in assets directory
    var linkURL: URL?                 // Parsed URL for link items
    var isPinned: Bool
    var isFavorite: Bool
    var tags: [String]
    var shelfID: UUID?                // Optional shelf assignment
    var contentHash: String           // FNV-1a hash for dedup
    var sizeBytes: Int?
}

Installation

Download (Recommended)

Download the latest DMG from Releases
Open the DMG
Drag DropVault.app into Applications
Launch DropVault
The floating drop zone appears at the right edge of your screen

The app is signed and notarized by Apple — no Gatekeeper warnings.

Build from Source

Requirements: macOS 14+, Swift 5.9+ (included with Xcode Command Line Tools)

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/Worth-Doing/dropvault.git
cd dropvault

# Build (debug)
swift build

# Build (release) and create .app bundle
swift build -c release
bash build.sh

# Run
open DropVault.app

Build + Sign + Notarize

If you have an Apple Developer ID certificate:

# Edit signing credentials in scripts/build-sign-notarize.sh, then:
bash scripts/build-sign-notarize.sh

This produces a signed, notarized DMG ready for distribution.

Usage

Basic Workflow

Copy anything — text, code, URLs, images — DropVault captures it automatically
Browse history — visual card grid or compact list, sorted your way
Search — type to instantly filter across all content, see result count
Re-copy — click any card's copy button, use the inspector, or click in the menu bar
Pin important items — they persist even when history is cleared

Menu Bar Workflow

Click the clipboard icon in the macOS menu bar
See your 10 most recent items — click any to copy it instantly
Toggle Clipboard Monitoring on/off
Toggle the Drop Zone on/off
Open the full DropVault window or quit the app

Drop Zone Workflow

Press Cmd+Shift+D or use the menu to toggle the floating drop zone
Drag files, images, text, or links from any app onto the drop zone
Content is captured, classified, and added to your vault instantly
The drop zone glows and animates to confirm receipt

Organization

Sidebar filters: Click any category to filter (Code, Images, Links, Files, Notes, Colors)
Sort items: Use the toolbar sort menu (newest, oldest, title, size, category)
Switch views: Toggle between Grid and List in the toolbar
Create shelves: Click "New Shelf" — choose a name and icon
Manage shelves: Right-click a shelf to rename, change icon, or delete
Tag items: Open the inspector, type a tag name, press Enter
Remove tags: Click the × button on any tag
Pin items: Right-click → Pin, or hover and click the pin button
Open links: Click "Open in Browser" on link items
Reveal files: Click "Reveal in Finder" on file items
Export data: Cmd+E or Settings → Storage → Export Data
Import data: Settings → Storage → Import Data (duplicates auto-skipped)

Privacy & Trust

DropVault is built with a local-first philosophy:

Principle	Implementation
No cloud	All data stored locally in `~/Library/Application Support/DropVault/`
No analytics	Zero telemetry, zero tracking, zero network calls
No AI	Classification is purely rule-based, runs locally
Transparent storage	JSON files you can inspect, backup, or delete
User control	Clear history, delete items, configure limits, export/import, pause monitoring

Configuration

Settings (via menu bar → DropVault → Settings)

Tab	Settings
General	Show drop zone on launch, auto-start clipboard monitoring, monitoring status
Storage	Max history items (500–10,000), current item count, storage size, export/import, clear history
Shortcuts	Reference list of all keyboard shortcuts
About	App version and info

Storage Location

~/Library/Application Support/DropVault/
├── items.json          # Clipboard history (metadata + text content)
├── shelves.json        # Shelf definitions
└── assets/             # Image files (PNG)
    ├── <uuid>.png
    └── ...

Roadmap

v1.0 — Foundation (Done)

v2.0 — Major Upgrade (Done)

Future

Technical Details

Clipboard Observation

// Polls NSPasteboard.general.changeCount every 0.5 seconds
// Extracts content in priority order:
//   1. File URLs (NSURL with fileURLsOnly option)
//   2. Image data (TIFF or PNG representation)
//   3. String content (plain text, URLs, code)
// Records frontmost application as source via NSWorkspace

Content Hash (FNV-1a 64-bit)

// Deterministic, fast hash for deduplication
var hash: UInt64 = 14695981039346656037   // FNV offset basis
for byte in data {
    hash ^= UInt64(byte)
    hash &*= 1099511628211               // FNV prime
}

Classification Rules (Summary)

Input text
  ├── matches #hex / rgb() / hsl()  → Colors
  ├── matches http:// / www.        → Links
  ├── ≥2 code keywords OR ≥2 syntax patterns OR ``` → Code
  └── else                          → Notes

File input
  ├── image extension (png, jpg, gif, webp, heic...) → Images
  └── else                          → Files

Drop Zone Window

// NSPanel with:
//   styleMask: [.borderless, .nonactivatingPanel, .fullSizeContentView]
//   level: .floating
//   collectionBehavior: [.canJoinAllSpaces, .transient]
//   isMovableByWindowBackground: true
//   backgroundColor: .clear

Requirements

Requirement	Minimum
macOS	14.0 (Sonoma)
Swift	5.9
Xcode CLI Tools	Required for `swift build`
Xcode.app	Not required
Architecture	Apple Silicon + Intel (universal via SPM)

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

License

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

DropVault — Drag, Store, Reuse. Instantly.
_{Built with Swift + SwiftUI. No Xcode. No cloud. No compromise.}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 3 Commits
Resources		Resources
Sources/DropVault		Sources/DropVault
screenshots		screenshots
scripts		scripts
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
Package.swift		Package.swift
README.md		README.md
build.sh		build.sh

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

DropVault

What's New in 2.0

New Features

New Keyboard Shortcuts

Improvements

What is DropVault?

Screenshots

Main Window — Grid View

Card Hover Actions & Selection

Floating Drop Zone

Settings

Features

Clipboard History Engine

Menu Bar Extra

Floating Drop Zone

Automatic Classification Engine

Visual Card System

Grid & List Views

Organization & Retrieval

Inspector Panel

Export & Import

Keyboard Shortcuts

Architecture

Project Structure

Technology Stack

Data Flow

Data Model

Installation

Download (Recommended)

Build from Source

Build + Sign + Notarize

Usage

Basic Workflow

Menu Bar Workflow

Drop Zone Workflow

Organization

Privacy & Trust

Configuration

Settings (via menu bar → DropVault → Settings)

Storage Location

Roadmap

v1.0 — Foundation (Done)

v2.0 — Major Upgrade (Done)

Future

Technical Details

Clipboard Observation

Content Hash (FNV-1a 64-bit)

Classification Rules (Summary)

Drop Zone Window

Requirements

Contributing

License

About

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