CopyCauldron

A fast, native macOS clipboard manager that lives in your menu bar. Captures text, files, and images; supports pinning, search, keyboard navigation, and one-tap auto-paste.

Features

• Universal capture — text, file URLs (copied from Finder), and images (e.g. ⌘⌃⇧4 screenshots).
• Search — instant filter across the entire history.
• Pinned items — keep favorites at the top, immune from the history-size cap and the Clear button. Configurable max (default 20).
• Keyboard-first — global hotkey opens the popover, then ↑/↓ to navigate, Return to activate, / to search, Esc to close.
• Pin shortcuts — press 1–9 while the popover is open to instantly paste a pinned item.
• Auto-paste — opt-in: the selected item is pasted directly into the previously active app (requires Accessibility permission).
• Global hotkey — customizable; defaults to ⌘⇧V.
• Auto-open on hover — opt-in: popover opens when you hover the menu-bar icon.
• Drag-to-resize — drag the bottom-right grip; the size persists.
• Right-click actions — Reveal in Finder, Open, Copy path as text (files); Save as…, Open in Preview (images); Open in browser (URLs).
• Launch at login — toggle in Preferences.
• Local-only — all history lives on your Mac; nothing is sent anywhere.

Requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

Install

Pre-built (recommended)

1. Download CopyCauldron.app.zip from the latest Releases page.
2. Unzip and drag CopyCauldron.app to /Applications.
3. Launch it. The cauldron icon appears in your menu bar.
4. (Optional) Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, enable CopyCauldron, and relaunch — required for auto-paste.

First launch may require right-click → Open to bypass Gatekeeper since the app isn't notarized.

Build from source

CopyCauldron builds with the Swift command-line tools — no full Xcode required.

git clone https://github.com/codexjdub/CopyCauldron.git
cd CopyCauldron
./scripts/build.sh           # debug build → .build/CopyCauldron.app
./scripts/build.sh release   # release build
open .build/CopyCauldron.app

The build script:

• Compiles the Swift package
• Assembles the .app bundle and Info.plist
• Code-signs with a local identity (override via COPYCAULDRON_SIGN_IDENTITY="My Cert" ./scripts/build.sh) or falls back to ad-hoc

To make auto-paste survive rebuilds, sign with a stable self-signed identity (see Build notes).

Usage

Default shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Open / close popover	⌘⇧V (configurable)
Move selection	↑ / ↓
Activate selected item	Return
Paste pinned item n	1–9
Focus search field	/
Clear search → unfocus → close	Esc

Click the menu-bar icon to open the popover with the mouse. Click any item to activate it. Right-click for contextual actions.

Preferences

Open via the gear icon in the popover footer.

• Global Shortcut — record your own combo.
• General — Launch at login, auto-open on hover, auto-paste on selection.
• History — total history size (10–500), max pinned items (1–100).

Privacy

• Clipboard history is stored locally at ~/Library/Application Support/CopyCauldron/.
• Images are cached as PNG files alongside history.json.
• Nothing is sent over the network. No telemetry.
• See TODO.md for planned exclusions (password-manager filtering).

Build notes

• Self-signed identity: rebuilds change the ad-hoc cdhash, which makes macOS re-prompt for Accessibility permission every time. Create a self-signed certificate in Keychain Access (Certificate Assistant → Create a Certificate → Self Signed Root, Code Signing), then sign builds with it. scripts/build.sh picks up the identity named dj by default; override with COPYCAULDRON_SIGN_IDENTITY="YourCertName".
• No Xcode required: the project uses Swift Package Manager. xcodebuild is not needed.

Roadmap

See TODO.md for upcoming items, including:

• Exclude password managers from history (concealed-pasteboard convention).

License

MIT © 2026 codexjdub.

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Built with Swift, SwiftUI, and AppKit on macOS.