ClipStash

A native macOS clipboard history manager, similar to uPaste.

Features

• Menu bar app — runs in the background with no Dock icon
• Clipboard monitoring — automatically captures text, images, and file references
• Global hotkey — press ⌘⇧V to show the history panel
• Search — filter clipboard history with the search bar
• Quick access — use ⌘1 through ⌘9 to select items instantly
• Keyboard navigation — arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select, Escape to dismiss
• Source app tracking — shows the icon of the app where each item was copied
• Persistent storage — history survives app restarts
• Deduplication — consecutive identical copies are automatically merged

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
• Xcode 15+ (for building)
• XcodeGen (for project generation)

Build

# Install XcodeGen if you don't have it
brew install xcodegen

# Generate Xcode project and build
cd ClipStash
xcodegen generate
xcodebuild -project ClipStash.xcodeproj -scheme ClipStash -configuration Release build

# Or use the Makefile from the repo root
make build

Usage

1. Launch ClipStash — it appears as a clipboard icon in the menu bar
2. Copy or cut content as usual in any app
3. Press ⌘⇧V to open the history panel
4. Navigate with arrow keys or search to find an item
5. Press Enter or ⌘1-⌘9 to select — the item is copied to your clipboard
6. Press ⌘V to paste as normal

Architecture

ClipStash/
├── Sources/
│   ├── App/           # App entry point, AppDelegate, Info.plist
│   ├── Models/        # ClipboardItem data model
│   ├── Services/      # ClipboardMonitor, ClipboardStore, HotkeyManager
│   ├── Views/         # HistoryPanel, HistoryView, ClipboardItemRow
│   └── Utilities/     # Constants
├── Resources/         # Asset catalogs
├── project.yml        # XcodeGen project spec
└── Makefile           # Build convenience targets

Tech Stack

• Swift 5.9 + SwiftUI — native macOS UI
• AppKit — NSPasteboard, NSPanel, NSStatusItem
• Carbon API — global hotkey registration
• Zero external dependencies — pure macOS SDK