What It Does
ClipMan monitors your system clipboard and keeps a browsable history of everything you copy — text, rich text, images, and files. It persists across sessions using SwiftData, so your history survives restarts.
Open the clipboard browser with commandoptionV, navigate with arrow keys, and press Return to paste. It’s that simple.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| commandoptionV | Open clipboard browser (global hotkey) |
| ← / → | Browse older / newer items |
| return | Paste selected item |
| shift+return | Paste and match style |
| escape | Dismiss browser |
The global hotkey is configurable in Settings.
Content Types
- Plain text — standard clipboard text
- Rich text — preserves RTF formatting, with paste-and-match-style option
- Images — TIFF and PNG data from screenshots, copied images, etc.
- Files — file URLs from Finder copies, displayed by filename
Features
- Pin important items to keep them at the top of your history — pinned items are never trimmed
- Deduplication — copying the same content twice in a row won't create a duplicate
- Configurable history limit — keep between 10 and 500 items (default 50)
- Persistent storage — history survives app restarts via SwiftData
- Click outside to dismiss — the browser closes when you click elsewhere
- Source app tracking — knows which app each item was copied from
Settings
Right-click the scissors icon and choose Settings… to configure:
- Clipboard buffer size — keep between 10 and 500 items (default 50)
- Keyboard shortcut — customise the global hotkey for opening the clipboard browser
- Accessibility permission — status display and grant button (required for paste simulation)
- Menu bar icon pill — optional grey background for stronger contrast on busy or wallpaper-tinted menu bars (off by default)
- Launch at Login — start automatically when you log in
Auto-updates are handled by Sparkle. Use the “Check for Updates…” menu item to check on demand; Sparkle’s prompt offers an “Automatically download and install updates in the future” checkbox the first time an update is available. ClipMan checks for new versions automatically once a day in the background.
Installation
Two formats on every release — both signed and notarised, pick whichever suits:
- Installer (
.pkg) — recommended for first-time installs. Double-click to run; macOS Installer places the app in/Applicationswithout quarantine or App Translocation. - Download (
.zip) — unzip and dragClipMan.appto your Applications folder.
On first launch, grant Accessibility permission when prompted.
Building from Source
ClipMan uses Swift Package Manager with one dependency (KeyboardShortcuts by Sindre Sorhus).
- Clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/PerpetualBeta/ClipMan.git - Run
gmake build - Launch with
open .build/ClipMan.app
Requirements
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. Universal binary (Apple Silicon and Intel).