Clippy — a polished capture companion for AI work

Clippy is a local, private capture panel for saving selected AI answers, links, notes, and follow-up prompts without leaving your current app. It keeps the useful parts of a to-do list, clipboard, and scratchpad one shortcut away.

Origin and attribution: Clippy began from Cooper by TouchMyBar, an Apache-2.0 open-source recreation inspired by shadcn's Copper app. Clippy preserves the original commit history, license, and contributor credit while developing as an independent product with its own macOS, iPhone, encrypted sync, and agent integrations. Clippy is not affiliated with Cooper's maintainers, shadcn, Copper, or Microsoft.

Local-first and private. Everything lives in a SQLite file on your Mac. Telemetry is off, and an account is needed only when you enable the optional end-to-end encrypted iPhone sync.

Download

Grab the latest build from Releases:

Mac	File to download
Apple Silicon (M-series)	Clippy_x.y.z_aarch64.dmg

First-run notes:

• macOS: Right-click → Open the unsigned app the first time, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Clippy.app. Grant Accessibility permission for double-shift capture.

How it works

• Select text anywhere → double-tap Left Shift → captured.
• Think of a follow-up prompt → double-tap Right Shift → Clippy appears.
• Send items back into your AI apps and check them off as you go.

Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Capture selected text (any app)	Left Shift + Left Shift
Show / hide Clippy (any app)	Right Shift + Right Shift
Show / hide (fallback)	Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Space
Capture (fallback)	Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + C
Switch / create list	Ctrl/Cmd + K
Copy selected · Copy as list	Ctrl/Cmd + C · Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + C
Mark as done / Edit / Delete	Space / Enter / Del
Shortcut sheet	Ctrl/Cmd + /

Features

• Capture panel — frameless, always on top, and summoned from the keyboard.
• Lists — type ## Title to group prompts, switch with Ctrl/Cmd+K, and use each list's ••• menu to rename it, move its prompts to Inbox, or delete it.
• File attachments — drag files onto the composer or use +; Clippy keeps a private local copy with the prompt. Paste copied images directly into the composer, drag selected text into the same box, then copy or drag prompts and files back into another app.
• Mixed selection — select prompts and individual images together with Cmd-click, extend a range with Shift-click, or select the visible list with Cmd+A before copying or dragging it elsewhere.
• Settled prompts — completed work collapses into a compact block at the bottom. Clear Settled follows the current scope: Inbox, one list, or All.
• Quiet capture feedback — Double Shift shows a brief click-through preview when the panel is closed, without taking focus from the app you're using.
• Local-first — no registration is required for the Mac app; optional end-to-end encrypted iPhone sync is enabled from Settings with an in-app browser sign-in.
• Agent access — an optional local MCP companion lets configured agents read lists and, when you explicitly allow it, create or update lists and todos.
• Custom shortcuts — record your preferred global Show and Capture hotkeys in Settings; Double Shift capture stays available.
• Inline formatting — supports bold, italic, strikethrough, and code.
• Copy as List — sends selected items and their attached files back out as a numbered prompt list.
• Themes — System, Light, Dark, and a translucent Glass theme.
• Tray app — closes to the tray, supports start-at-login, and uses a monochrome macOS template icon that adapts to the menu-bar appearance.
• Portable data — one SQLite file plus one-click Markdown export.

Building from source

Prerequisites: an Apple Silicon Mac, Rust, Node 18+, and the Tauri 2 platform prerequisites.

npm install
npm run tauri dev
npm run tauri -- build --target aarch64-apple-darwin

Clippy uses a Rust core and React UI in the operating system webview—no Electron.

Platform notes

• Clippy reads the focused app's selected text through the native Accessibility API first, without touching the clipboard. Apps that do not expose selection use a copy/pasteboard compatibility path that preserves non-text clipboard data when capture is empty.

Data

• Database: clippy.db in ~/Library/Application Support/app.clippy.desktop.
• On first launch, Clippy copies an existing Cooper database into the new location when possible, leaving the original untouched.
• ⋯ → Export to Markdown writes clippy-export.md to Documents.

License and origin

Apache-2.0. See NOTICE for the original project attribution. Cooper's original source, history, and releases remain available at TouchMyBar/cooper. Clippy retains its own full Git history so the provenance of inherited and later work stays auditable.