Copycat v1.0.0

The first release of Copycat: clipboard history that lives in your macOS menu bar (or the Windows system tray). Everything you copy is kept. Click the icon or press ⌘⇧V to find it again and put it back on the clipboard.

Download

Platform	File
macOS, Apple silicon (M1 and later)	copycat-1.0.0-arm64.dmg
macOS, Intel	copycat-1.0.0-x64.dmg
Windows 10/11 (64-bit)	copycat-1.0.0-setup.exe

These builds aren't code-signed yet; see First launch below.

Features

Clipboard history

• Records every text you copy, with the time you copied it.
• Copying something that's already in the list moves it to the top instead of adding a duplicate.
• Keeps the last 100 items by default (adjustable, up to 1000). The oldest are removed first.
• Click an item, or select it and press Enter, to copy it back to the clipboard and close the popup.

The popup

• Search as you type.
• Each item shows how long ago you copied it (5s, 3m, 2h, 4d). Hover a row to get a copy button; hovering that shows the exact time.
• Multi-line copies are shown in a monospace font so code stays readable.
• Right-click an item to Copy, Pin or Delete it.
• Clear all removes everything except pinned items.

Pinning

• Pin the items you use often. Pinned items stay at the top of the list, and are never removed by the history limit, Clear all or Clear history on quit.

Privacy

• Skips passwords. On macOS, password managers mark what they copy as concealed or temporary, and Copycat doesn't record those items.
• Pause recording at any time from the popup, the tray menu or Settings. While paused, the menu bar icon shows a pause symbol.
• Clear history on quit (optional).
• Everything stays on your computer. History is kept in one local file and isn't sent anywhere. Show history file in About takes you to it.

Always at hand

• Global shortcut (⌘⇧V / Ctrl+Shift+V by default) opens the popup near your cursor from any app. Change it in Settings by pressing the new keys. If another app already uses a shortcut, Copycat tells you and keeps the old one.
• Launch at login.
• Tray menu: right-click the icon for Open, Pause recording, About and Quit.

Settings and About

• Settings (⌘, or the sliders button in the footer): history size, shortcut, launch at login, pause recording and clear history on quit.
• About page (Settings → About Copycat, or About in the tray menu): version, a link to this repo, and Show history file, which reveals your history file in Finder / Explorer.

Native look

• Frosted-glass popup: macOS vibrancy, and acrylic on Windows 11.
• Follows light and dark mode and your system accent colour.
• Zoom with ⌘+ / ⌘- / ⌘0.
• Respects Reduce transparency.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keys	Action
⌘⇧V (anywhere)	Open / close Copycat
↑ ↓	Move the selection
Enter	Copy the selected item and close
Esc	Close (in Settings or About: go back)
⌘P	Pin / unpin the selected item
⌘⌫	Delete the selected item (when the search box is empty)
⌘,	Open / close Settings

On Windows, use Ctrl instead of ⌘.

First launch

macOS: open the dmg and drag Copycat to Applications. When you first open it, macOS says it can't verify the developer. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the Copycat message. You only need to do this once. Copycat then appears in the menu bar; there's no Dock icon.

Windows: run the installer. If SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. Copycat then appears in the system tray.

Known limitations

• Text only. Images and files aren't recorded yet.
• Picking an item copies it but doesn't paste it. Press ⌘V yourself.
• ⌘⇧V is "Paste and Match Style" in many Mac apps, and Copycat takes it over while running. If you use that, change Copycat's shortcut in Settings.
• Windows support is new. It's built and packaged, but has been tested much less than macOS. Password-manager detection on Windows is untested.
• Launch at login on macOS may need approval under System Settings → General → Login Items, because the app isn't signed.

What's changed

• Tray app, clipboard watcher and history by @shricastic in #1
• Glass UI, pinning, global shortcut and settings by @shricastic in #2
• Paused tray icon, and hover selection fix by @shricastic in #3
• About page and glass credit line by @shricastic in #4
• CI and release workflows by @shricastic in #5

Full Changelog: https://github.com/shricastic/copycat/commits/v1.0.0

Made with ♥ by Shricastic