Clibi

A lightweight clipboard manager for macOS.
Keeps your last 100 copied items (text and images) accessible with a single shortcut.

Screenshots

     

Features

• Clipboard History — Automatically stores the last 100 items you copy (configurable up to 500)
• Image Support — Captures and stores copied images; pastes them back as PNG into any app
• Quick Access — Press ⌃V (Control+V) to open the history popup from anywhere
• Custom Shortcut — Change the hotkey to any key combination in Settings
• Search — Filter history by typing in the search field
• Smart Paste — Selecting an item pastes it directly into the focused app; if no input field is focused, it's copied to the clipboard instead
• No Dock Icon, No Menu Bar — Runs silently in the background; access Settings and Quit from the popup footer
• Persistent — History and window position survive app restarts
• Resizable — The popup can be resized and repositioned; it remembers its size and position

Installation

Build from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/akinalpfdn/Clibi.git

2. Open Clibi.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Build and run (⌘R)

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 or later
• Xcode 15.0 or later (to build from source)

Setup

On first launch, macOS will ask you to grant Accessibility permission. This is required to:

• Register the global hotkey (⌃V by default)
• Simulate paste (⌘V) into the focused app

Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and enable Clibi.

Usage

Action	How
Open clipboard history	Press ⌃V (or your custom shortcut)
Paste an item	Click on it — pastes into the focused app
Copy without pasting	Right-click → Copy Only
Search	Type in the search field at the top
Delete an item	Right-click → Delete
Close popup	Press Escape or click outside
Clear all history	Trash icon in the popup footer
Open Settings	Gear icon in the popup footer
Quit	Power icon in the popup footer
Change shortcut	Settings → Shortcut — click the field and press your desired combo

Architecture

Clibi/
├── ClibiApp.swift          # App entry point, bridges openSettings environment action
├── AppDelegate.swift       # Hotkey and panel coordination (no menu bar or dock icon)
├── ClipboardItem.swift     # Data model (text and image kinds)
├── ClipboardStore.swift    # JSON persistence + image file management
├── ClipboardMonitor.swift  # Polls NSPasteboard every 0.5s for changes
├── HotkeyConfig.swift      # Arbitrary hotkey config, persisted in UserDefaults
├── HotkeyManager.swift     # Global shortcut registration (Carbon API)
├── HotkeyRecorderView.swift# Click-to-record shortcut field (custom NSControl)
├── PasteService.swift      # Clipboard write + ⌘V simulation
├── PopupPanel.swift        # Floating NSPanel with frame persistence
├── ClipboardListView.swift # SwiftUI list with search and footer actions
└── SettingsView.swift      # Preferences window

Key decisions:

• No external dependencies — Pure Swift + AppKit + SwiftUI
• Carbon hotkey API — Reliable global shortcut that consumes the key event (prevents characters from leaking into the active app)
• NSPanel (non-activating) — Popup appears without stealing focus from the active app
• Timer-based polling — Checks NSPasteboard every 0.5s via changeCount. Simple and reliable
• PNG + TIFF on pasteboard — Images are written with both public.png and public.tiff types so apps with strict type requirements (e.g. WhatsApp) receive them correctly
• JSON + file storage — Text history in history.json; images as PNG files in Images/

Privacy

Clibi stores clipboard history locally only. No data is sent anywhere.

~/Library/Application Support/Clibi/history.json   # text history
~/Library/Application Support/Clibi/Images/        # image files

Delete this folder to remove all history.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.