CoPaRe

CoPaRe is a source-available, privacy-first clipboard manager for macOS. It keeps captured clipboard history session-only, stores only user-authored snippets across restarts when enabled, and prioritizes secure defaults for everyday work.

Website | Support | Privacy policy | Latest GitHub release | Changelog

Why CoPaRe

• Security-first design: session-only captured history, encrypted snippet vault, local authentication support
• Practical daily workflow: fast search, menu bar quick panel, global shortcut, one-click copy
• Clear privacy posture: no telemetry, no analytics SDKs, no cloud sync by default
• Production-ready distribution: signed, notarized manual-install build with Sparkle signed updates, plus a separate Mac App Store build flow

What's new in 1.4.1

• Fixed sandboxed manual snippet export permissions.
• Prevented clipboard content copied while monitoring is paused or locked from being captured after monitoring resumes.
• Preserved unloaded saved snippets when persistence runs before the saved snippet vault is explicitly loaded.
• Blocked and masked signed URLs and URL credentials that contain token-like query values.
• Moved image OCR filtering off the pasteboard polling path so image captures do not block the UI while OCR runs.
• Made Gatekeeper assessment failures stop notarized release builds instead of being ignored.

See CHANGELOG.md for the full release history.

Screenshots

Main window

Settings

Menu bar quick panel

Download and install

Install manually from GitHub Release

Use the prebuilt, signed and notarized manual-install package from GitHub Releases:

• Latest release

Step by step:

1. Open the latest release page and download:
   • CoPaRe-vX.Y.Z.dmg
   • optional integrity file: CoPaRe-vX.Y.Z.dmg.sha256
2. (Optional but recommended) Verify checksum:

   shasum -a 256 CoPaRe-vX.Y.Z.dmg

   Compare the output with the value in CoPaRe-vX.Y.Z.dmg.sha256.
3. Double-click the DMG to mount it.
4. In the same DMG window, drag CoPaRe.app onto the bundled Applications shortcut.
5. Open Applications > CoPaRe.
6. If macOS blocks first launch:
   • open System Settings > Privacy & Security
   • click Open Anyway for CoPaRe, then confirm once.

After install, CoPaRe can auto-check signed updates from the app menu (CoPaRe > Check for Updates…).

The GitHub release is the manual-install build and includes Sparkle updates. The Mac App Store build is prepared separately without Sparkle.

Build from source

Requirements:

• macOS
• Xcode 17 or newer

Build:

xcodebuild -project CoPaRe.xcodeproj -scheme CoPaRe -destination 'platform=macOS' build

Test:

xcodebuild -project CoPaRe.xcodeproj -scheme CoPaRe -destination 'platform=macOS' test

Core features

• Clipboard history for text, URLs, images, files, and folders
• First-launch guided "How to" onboarding with key actions and security overview
• Manual snippets with optional encrypted local persistence
• Global launcher shortcut (⌥⌘V) with instant search focus
• On-demand loading of the saved-snippets vault (Load Saved Snippets)
• Duplicate collapse with capture counters for repeated copies
• Fast search across visible previews and minimal local file labels
• Automatic preview masking for likely secret text/token captures
• Optional OCR scanning of copied images to block likely sensitive text
• Filters for All, Pinned, Text, Images, and Files
• Pin/unpin important entries
• Source-application label for each captured entry
• Per-app capture exclusions using bundle identifiers
• Entry time-to-live controls for captured, unpinned history items
• Optional one-time copy for unpinned history items
• Optional local lock/unlock gate that removes the active history from the normal in-memory view path, pauses capture while locked, and uses local authentication to restore it
• userPresence protection for the saved-snippets vault when app lock is enabled
• One-click re-copy for every entry
• Copy as Plain Text for text, URL, and file entries
• Sparkle-based updates with background checks at launch
• Signed appcast feed plus EdDSA-signed update archives
• Sparkle installer flow with one-click verified update prompts
• Manual update check in the macOS app menu (CoPaRe > Check for Updates…)
• Menu bar quick panel for fast access
• Menu bar actions for copy, pin/unpin, reveal in Finder, and secure delete
• Session-only clipboard capture with no automatic history-at-rest
• Secure wipe of in-memory history and saved snippets
• Local security event counters for blocked/skipped activity
• Launch at login support on macOS 13+

Security at a glance

CoPaRe uses practical hardening appropriate for a local clipboard manager:

• App Sandbox enabled
• Release entitlement com.apple.security.get-task-allow = false
• Hardened runtime enabled for release distribution builds produced by scripts/release.sh
• Captured clipboard history is never written to disk and is cleared when CoPaRe quits
• Runtime payloads are wrapped with an in-memory session key and revealed on demand for re-copy or focused detail view
• Locking CoPaRe temporarily removes the live history from the normal in-memory path, encrypts a short-lived lock snapshot, and pauses clipboard capture until unlock
• Optional snippet persistence stores only user-authored snippets in an encrypted vault stored in the app support container with restrictive local file permissions
• Search avoids indexing full text bodies in RAM; only visible previews and minimal file labels remain searchable, and likely secrets are auto-masked in previews
• Protected pasteboard-type detection for concealed/password-manager clipboard content
• No analytics or outbound telemetry code in the app source

Security limits, verification commands, and vulnerability reporting details are in SECURITY.md.

Distribution docs

• Distribution and release workflow
• App Store metadata draft
• App Store submission checklist

Changelog

• See CHANGELOG.md for version-by-version release notes.

Configuration reference

Option	Description	Default
Filter potentially sensitive content	Blocks likely secrets and sensitive file paths from being stored	Enabled
Persist saved snippets on disk	Persists only manually created snippets in an encrypted vault; captured clipboard history always stays session-only	Enabled
One-time copy for unpinned history items	Removes an unpinned captured item after a successful re-copy	Disabled
Require unlock to view history	Locks the visible history behind local authentication and binds saved-snippets vault access to userPresence when enabled	Disabled
Launch at login	Starts CoPaRe automatically at login (macOS 13+)	Disabled
Capture images	Includes copied images in history	Enabled
Capture copied files/folders	Includes file URLs in history	Enabled
Polling interval	Clipboard polling cadence	0.65s
Entry time-to-live	Auto-expires captured, unpinned items after a selected retention window	Never
Unpinned history limit	Maximum number of non-pinned entries kept	250
Per-App Exclusions	Newline-separated bundle identifiers that CoPaRe ignores during capture	Built-in password manager defaults

Additional behavior

• Snippets are manually created text entries and are not subject to automatic TTL expiration.
• Saved snippets are not auto-loaded at app launch; they are loaded only when you explicitly choose Load Saved Snippets.
• Re-copied text and URLs are written back to the pasteboard with concealed/auto-generated markers to reduce capture by other well-behaved clipboard tools.
• Pinned items and snippets are preserved when you use the standard "Clear unpinned history" action.
• Captured clipboard history is always memory-only and is not restored after relaunch.
• Secure delete of individual entries removes them from the current session immediately.
• "Secure wipe entire history" removes all items, deletes the encrypted snippets vault file if present, and destroys the snippet encryption keys (crypto-shredding).
• Secure wipe shows a warning if one or more protected Keychain keys cannot be removed (for example if authentication is canceled).
• Security event counters are local-only and track blocked sensitive captures, excluded-app skips, expired entries, secure wipes, and unlock events.

Repository layout

• CoPaRe/ app source
• CoPaReTests/ unit tests
• CoPaReUITests/ UI tests
• CoPaRe-Info.plist explicit app Info.plist containing Sparkle configuration
• docs/ project documentation and README screenshots
• release/ signed appcast.xml, release notes, App Store metadata, and App Store screenshots; generated Sparkle archives are ignored
• dist/ locally generated DMGs and checksums created by scripts/release.sh (not intended to stay versioned in git)
• scripts/ versioning, release automation, and security verification helpers
• LICENSE CoPaRe Community License 1.0
• NOTICE required attribution and origin notice that redistributions must keep

Contributing

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch.
3. Add tests for behavior changes where practical.
4. Include security impact notes in your pull request.

Security reporting

Please avoid public disclosure until a fix is available.

Include:

• impact and attack scenario
• reproduction steps
• affected commit or version
• suggested mitigation (if available)

License

CoPaRe is distributed under the CoPaRe Community License 1.0. See LICENSE.

This means:

• individuals and companies may use, modify, and run the software, including for internal business use
• redistributions in source or binary form are allowed only when they are free of charge
• redistributions must preserve the LICENSE and NOTICE files
• redistributions must clearly preserve attribution to the CoPaRe project and state whether the software was modified
• no one may generate profit, fees, margins, or other commercial benefit from redistributing CoPaRe or derivative works under the default repository terms

Important:

• this is source-available software, not OSI-approved open source
• commercial redistribution rights are reserved unless the copyright holders grant separate written permission

Commercial redistribution

If you want to sell CoPaRe, include it in a paid bundle, ship it as part of a paid service, or otherwise monetize redistribution of CoPaRe:

• the default repository terms do not allow that
• you need separate written permission from the copyright holders before distribution
• internal company use that does not redistribute the software remains allowed under the included license terms