Clipboard++

Clipboard++ is a fast Windows clipboard manager with searchable history, a non-activating quick-paste popup, multiple clipboard profiles, image capture, configurable hotkeys, themes, Android sync, and command-line control.

It is built in C++17 with Win32, Dear ImGui, DirectX 11, and CMake. The Windows executables use the static MSVC runtime, so no separate runtime installer is required.

Current release: 0.1.0-beta.8 · Supported systems: Windows 10 and Windows 11
Author: james28909, with AI-assisted development from OpenAI Codex and Claude

Releases · Build from source · Keyboard shortcuts · Security and storage · Roadmap · Repository map

At a glance

• Captures text, rich text, HTML, images, files, folders, and other clipboard formats.
• Opens a searchable quick-paste popup with Ctrl+Shift+V without taking focus from the target application.
• Supports pinned items, ordered multi-selection, drag-and-drop reordering, filters, and stable keyboard slots.
• Supports exact left/right modifier hotkeys, configurable history slot banks, named-slot shortcuts, and double-tap overlap routing.
• Archives items displaced by the active-history limit in a searchable per-profile vault, with one-click restore and an optional storage cap.
• Keeps separate named clipboard profiles and can switch profiles based on the foreground process.
• Detects more than 30 content types, including URLs, code, JSON, paths, colors, and likely secrets.
• Stores profiles, persistent history, and images in AES-256-XTS encrypted SQLite databases whose keys are protected by Windows DPAPI.
• Preserves audited native Windows clipboard formats and provides format inspection, hex viewing, regex transforms, templates, diffs, and structured text formatting.
• Syncs clipboard text with the optional Android companion app.
• Includes SQLite and JSON viewers plus a bundled editor target.

Clipboard++ observes the normal Windows clipboard with AddClipboardFormatListener. It does not replace Ctrl+C, hijack the Windows clipboard UI, or install a different clipboard implementation. A low-level keyboard hook is used for configured global hotkeys and for forwarding keyboard input to the popup, which intentionally does not take foreground focus.

Quick start

1. Download clipboardpp.exe from Releases, or build it from source.
2. Run the executable. Clipboard++ lives in the system tray.
3. Copy normally with Ctrl+C.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+V to open the quick-paste popup.
5. Click an item or use a slot key to paste it into the application that was active before the popup opened.

Use the tray menu or Ctrl+Shift+, to open Settings. General owns Windows startup and interface-help controls; feature-specific behavior lives beside the feature it affects.

Screenshots

Show screenshots

Quick-paste popup	Android clipboard list

General settings	Appearance settings

Hotkeys	Android settings

Systray

Core workflow

Capture and organize

Clipboard++ continuously captures supported formats. History deduplication is enabled by default, so re-copying existing content refreshes and moves that item according to the configured history order. Disable Consolidate duplicate items under Settings → Clipboard → History to keep every copy as a separate entry.

History features include:

• Pinned and regular sections with independent keyboard slots.
• Named clipboard profiles with isolated histories.
• Process bindings and optional automatic profile switching.
• Search, content filters, custom filters, drag-and-drop ordering, and bulk actions.
• Ordered multi-selection for pasting several items in a chosen order.
• One-level undo for popup deletes, full-history clears, drag reorders, bulk moves, workflow moves, and configured paste-moves. The command-bar button and Ctrl+Z restore stable item IDs without discarding captures that arrived afterward.
• Encrypted workflow buttons that can transform selected data and route it to paste, copy, files, URLs, Android, history operations, or an explicitly chosen executable.
• Configurable active-history limits with encrypted persistence.
• Source-process tracking and timestamps.

Quick-paste popup

The popup uses WS_EX_NOACTIVATE, stays above ordinary windows, and forwards the selected item back to the application that was active when the popup opened. Search and filters operate on stable item IDs, so pasting and bulk actions continue to target the correct entries when the visible list changes.

Ten built-in filter buttons cover All, Text, Image, URL, File, Code, Secret, JSON, Email, and Color. Content detection also recognizes formats such as XML, HTML, CSV, Markdown, UUIDs, dates, logs, commands, scripts, archives, documents, audio, and video paths.

Advanced paste tools

Clipboard → Paste Tools contains the user-facing operations that deliberately transform content during paste:

• PCRE2 regex transforms apply named pattern/replacement rules immediately before paste, with a settings preview.
• Templates interpolate named slots with {{slot:name}} and popup selections with {{1}}, {{2}}, and later ordered placeholders.
• Structured formatting offers normalized JSON, XML, and SQL paste choices.

Popup → Workflow buttons provides a composable action editor. An action chooses its input, ordered processing steps, output, visibility conditions, popup group, optional exact hotkey, confirmation policy, and timeout. The editor includes a live sample preview and a safe test that never pastes, writes, opens, or launches anything. External programs are opt-in and run directly without a command shell; executable and argument fields remain separate and inserted values are Windows-escaped.

Workflow definitions are stored inside the encrypted SQLite VFS, including action bodies, templates, arguments, paths, and sensitive values. JSON import/export is intentionally plaintext and carries an on-screen secret warning; review exported JSON before sharing it.

Developer mode remains focused on diagnostics and clipboard inspection:

• The format inspector lists every captured Win32 format in order and preserves exact bytes for an audited safe allowlist. A selected safe format or complete safe bundle can be replayed without converting it through plain text.
• The hex viewer displays full preserved payloads, normalized text, and stored image bytes with offset, hexadecimal, and ASCII columns.
• Named slots store reusable encrypted snippets independently of history limits and can be pasted from the popup or assigned global shortcuts.
• The diff viewer compares two selected items side by side.
• Live diagnostics estimate active-history and preserved-format memory, popup thumbnail texture memory, the most recent database query, render-frame moving average, and clipboard events over the rolling last minute. Opted-in support bundles include the same performance measurements.

Clipboard++ marks its own clipboard-write transactions with a private token. Generated template, transform, and formatted output is therefore not captured back into history as a duplicate, including when Windows emits multiple or delayed format notifications. Developer diagnostics record Clipboard++ as the generator and the receiving foreground process separately.

Automated storage stress coverage exercises eight profiles at the full 500-item active limit, large HTML/RTF and 2 MiB native-format payloads, 1,200 vault records, an 8 MiB encrypted image, and 5,000 rapid in-memory clipboard-style pushes.

Images

Copied images and screenshots can be stored as PNG, JPEG, or raw DIB data. The image browser provides thumbnails, profile filtering, copying, deletion, and configurable quality, dimensions, and retention limits.

Privacy and storage

• Incognito mode immediately pauses clipboard capture.
• Planned secret detection, clear-on-lock, and per-process exclusion controls are shown disabled in Settings so they cannot be mistaken for active protections.
• AES-256-XTS page encryption for persistent history, profile metadata, and images, with current-user DPAPI protection for the database keys.
• Settings → Privacy provides online encrypted backup and verified restart-time restore for the clipboard and image databases.

Settings uses a plain, flat sidebar: General, Clipboard, Popup, Hotkeys, Appearance, Integrations, Privacy, Developer (Debug builds), Support & diagnostics, and About. See Settings UI architecture for the page map and layout rules.

Support and diagnostics

Settings → Support & diagnostics is available in Release and Debug builds. It creates a reviewable ZIP containing selected environment, sanitized feature, database-health, startup-performance, and safe diagnostic information. The bundle manifest lists every included file and the data that is always excluded. Clipboard contents, images, database pages, encryption keys, DPAPI blobs, raw configuration, named-slot/template/transform values, custom-action bodies/arguments/templates/paths, endpoints, external-editor/program-launcher paths, credentials, raw crash dumps, and paste_debug.log are never bundled.

The ZIP can be copied as a Windows file-drop object for pasting into an upload control. The same page can prepare Markdown for a GitHub issue or open the public issue form with safe text fields; it never uploads the ZIP or stores GitHub credentials. Security-sensitive details should be reported through the repository's private security-advisory form.

Keyboard shortcuts

All bindings can be changed in Settings → Hotkeys. Bindings distinguish left and right Ctrl, Alt, and Shift and can combine any supported physical modifiers with 1-9, A-Z, or F1-F12. History, pinned-history, and profile slot banks define the modifier chord separately from the enabled slot-key ranges; named slots use complete shortcuts.

When a named-slot shortcut overlaps a slot-bank route, optional double-tap routing keeps both actions available: release a required modifier after the first slot-key press for the bank action, or press the same slot key again while continuing to hold the modifiers for the named slot.

Action	Default
Toggle quick-paste popup	Ctrl+Shift+V
Open popup with search focused	Ctrl+Shift+S
Open Settings	Ctrl+Shift+,
Search the web for current clipboard text	Ctrl+Shift+G
Send highlighted Windows text to Android	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z
Paste a regular-history slot	Ctrl+Alt+1–9, A–Z, F1–F12
Paste a pinned slot	Ctrl+Shift+1–9, A–Z, F1–F12
Select a clipboard-profile slot	Alt+Shift+1–9, A–Z, F1–F12

Android clipboard bridge

The optional companion project is in android/clipboardpp-android-api. It supports:

• Android-to-Windows clipboard capture into a dedicated Android list.
• Sending one or more saved Windows items back to Android.
• Sending highlighted text from any Windows application with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z.
• Accessibility-triggered synchronization while keeping Gboard or another keyboard active.
• Manual sync, endpoint testing, missing-item reconciliation, a capture IME, and a floating sync fallback.

Setup and network details are in the Android companion README.

Security and storage

The clipboard data boundary audit explains source-process metadata, incognito transitions, plaintext exports, diagnostics, crash files, Windows clipboard retention after paste, and external-editor scratch files. The data-safety verification matrix maps storage and migration guarantees to automated evidence. Release candidates are evaluated with the release-readiness checklist.

Clipboard++ stores its user data under %APPDATA%\Clipboard++:

Path	Contents	Protection
config.json	Non-sensitive app settings, hotkeys, and themes	Plaintext; profile definitions are not stored here after migration
clipboard.db + .key	Profiles, active-profile state, active history, searchable overflow vault, and custom workflow actions	AES-256-XTS SQLite VFS; key sidecar protected by current-user Windows DPAPI
images.db + .key	Image metadata and image BLOBs	AES-256-XTS SQLite VFS; key sidecar and image BLOBs also use current-user Windows DPAPI
history\<profile>.enc	Pre-database history retained as a migration rollback source	Current-user Windows DPAPI
fonts\	Imported fonts	Plain files

Legacy history and plaintext SQLite databases are migrated automatically. Database replacement uses a verified encrypted copy and a temporary rollback file; profile/history import is transactional. Existing DPAPI history files are retained as a rollback source after successful import. config.json stops storing profile names, process bindings, and active-profile state once clipboard.db is verified.

Windows DPAPI binds each protected database key to the Windows user credentials that encrypted it and, under the normal Clipboard++ configuration, to the same computer. Merely copying a database and its .key sidecar to another account or computer does not make the database readable there. DPAPI also applies an integrity check to the protected key blob so unauthorized modification is detected. This is encryption at rest; it does not protect data from software already running with access to the same signed-in Windows account.

The bundled SQLite Editor detects Clipboard++ .key sidecars and opens encrypted databases transparently under the same Windows account. It also recognizes the image schema and decrypts the additional protected image BLOB layer for preview in memory. Choosing Export decrypted image deliberately creates an unencrypted file and is labeled accordingly.

Encrypted backup and restore

Settings → Privacy → Encrypted backup & restore creates a timestamped backup folder using SQLite's online backup API. It does not copy a live database/WAL pair. Each included database receives a fresh AES-256-XTS key protected by current-user Windows DPAPI, and config.json is DPAPI-protected inside the same folder. backup-manifest.json records the included components without containing clipboard payloads.

Restore first validates the manifest, configuration JSON, database integrity, expected schemas, and DPAPI keys. Clipboard++ then creates a fresh encrypted restore snapshot while the current data remains open and unchanged. On Restart and restore now, the staged state is installed before storage initialization. The previous encrypted databases and key sidecars are retained under %APPDATA%\Clipboard++\restore-rollback; the previous configuration is retained there as config.json.dpapi, protected by DPAPI. This keeps a failed or unwanted restore recoverable without leaving a plaintext rollback configuration. A staged restore can be canceled before restart.

A full backup includes profiles and history, pinned and vault content, native clipboard formats, images, named slots, transforms, paste templates, workflow actions, hotkeys, appearance, filters, popup behavior, and other saved settings.

Storage recovery and safe mode

Clipboard++ checks the encrypted clipboard database before using it. An unreadable key, invalid schema, failed integrity check, active-history load error, image-database open error, or background history-save failure puts the app into storage safe mode. Safe mode does not start clipboard capture and disables further storage writes; it leaves the existing database files untouched and records the reason in History, Developer events, and support bundles.

The History page can open the storage folder, retry a normal restart, direct the user to encrypted restore under Privacy, or quarantine the clipboard and image databases, keys, and sidecars into a timestamped recovery folder before creating fresh encrypted storage. For manual diagnosis, launch clipboardpp.exe --clipboardpp-safe-mode.

Encrypted backups are normally recoverable only by the same Windows user on the same computer. Vault file/JSON/binary exports and individually exported images are different: they contain decrypted content, are not accepted as restore backups, and must be protected accordingly.

Settings and definition transfer

Settings → Privacy → Settings & definition transfer exports a portable, versioned package containing app configuration, profile definitions, named slots, regex transforms, paste templates, and workflow actions. DPAPI encryption is enabled by default. A plaintext JSON option is available for portability and inspection, but it can expose slot text, templates, executable arguments, endpoints, and other sensitive settings.

Imports resolve names with Skip existing, Replace existing, or Keep both. Keep-both imports receive a distinct name. Profile and named-slot identifiers are remapped for the destination installation, including named-slot hotkeys, active-profile selection, and filter routes. Replacing the singleton app configuration stages it under DPAPI and applies it atomically on restart. Use encrypted backup/restore instead when an exact copy of history, vault entries, images, and IDs is required.

Themes and appearance

Clipboard++ includes 12 built-in dark and light themes plus named custom themes. Appearance controls cover the main palette, title-bar buttons, popup animation, opacity, outlines, scrollbars, rounding, fonts, and the procedural clipboard icon. Theme changes update the main UI, popup contexts, and system-tray icon at runtime.

Install the bundled font collection with:

.\install-fonts.ps1

You can also import individual .ttf and .otf files from Settings → Appearance.

CLI examples

clipboardpp.exe status
clipboardpp.exe status --format json
clipboardpp.exe config --list
clipboardpp.exe config --get popup.opacity
clipboardpp.exe config --set popup.opacity 0.85
clipboardpp.exe --clipboard get
clipboardpp.exe --clipboard set "hello"
clipboardpp.exe --clipboard insert "save this" --top

History CLI

History commands use the active profile unless --profile <id-or-name> selects another one:

clipboardpp.exe get --list --limit 20
clipboardpp.exe get --list --format json
clipboardpp.exe get --search "invoice" --format json
clipboardpp.exe get --item 3
clipboardpp.exe get --item 3 --format json
clipboardpp.exe set --pin 3
clipboardpp.exe set --unpin 1 --profile "Work"
clipboardpp.exe set --delete 5
clipboardpp.exe set --clear --profile "Temporary"

Item numbers are one-based positions in the profile's current stored history order. Search results retain their original item numbers, so a result can be passed directly to get --item <n>. Text output from get --item is the complete stored text payload; JSON output also includes type, pin state, timestamps, source details, and image metadata. It does not write raw image bytes; use the image browser or vault export for image files.

Mutation commands resolve the selected position to a stable item ID and send the change to the running Clipboard++ app, keeping its in-memory history and encrypted database synchronized. Pinning or unpinning can reorder the list, so refresh get --list before using another position. set --clear clears only the selected profile's active history; it never clears that profile's vault. These commands require the tray app to be running.

Vault CLI

Vault commands use the active profile unless --profile <id-or-name> selects another one:

clipboardpp.exe vault count --format json
clipboardpp.exe vault search "invoice" --limit 20
clipboardpp.exe vault export --output "C:\Temp\vault-files" --format files
clipboardpp.exe vault export --output "C:\Temp\vault.json" --format json
clipboardpp.exe vault export --output "C:\Temp\vault.cppvault" --format binary
clipboardpp.exe vault backup --output "D:\Backups\Clipboard++"

The files, json, and binary export formats contain decrypted clipboard content and must be protected accordingly. File and binary exports preserve image payloads in their exact stored PNG, JPEG, or DIB representation. The backup command is different: it uses SQLite's online backup API to create consistent encrypted copies of clipboard.db and images.db, each with a new DPAPI-protected key, without creating an intermediate plaintext database. Its destination directory must be empty. The Settings workflow provides the same encrypted backup guarantee plus manifest validation and staged restore.

The GUI is single-instance. Commands that change live app state communicate with the running app through the Clipboard++ IPC window.

Companion projects

Directory	Output	Purpose
.	clipboardpp.exe	Main Windows clipboard manager
android/clipboardpp-android-api	Android APK	Android clipboard companion
ide/	clipboardpp_ide.exe	Bundled text/script editor
dbviewer/	sqlite_editor.exe	SQLite browser, query editor, and image-BLOB previewer
jsonviewer/	json_viewer.exe	JSON tree viewer and syntax highlighter

The SQLite and JSON viewer directories include optional .reg templates for Explorer integration. They can be installed normally or loaded dynamically through AwesomeMenu. See the SQLite Editor README and JSON Viewer README for tool-specific usage.

Building from source

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 with Desktop development with C++
• CMake 3.20 or newer
• PowerShell

Build script

# All Windows targets, Release
.\build.ps1

# One target, Debug
.\build.ps1 -Target clipboardpp -Config Debug
.\build.ps1 -Target sqlite_editor -Config Debug

# Every target in both configurations
.\build.ps1 -Config Both

# Clean rebuild
.\build.ps1 -Target clipboardpp -Config Debug -Clean

Executables are written to build\<Config>\<target>\.

Available targets are clipboardpp, clipboardpp_ide, sqlite_editor, and json_viewer. The main Clipboard++ CMake target stops and restarts the matching executable after a successful build unless CLIPBOARDPP_RESTART_AFTER_BUILD=OFF is configured.

Manual CMake

cmake -S . -B build/.cmake/clipboardpp -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build build/.cmake/clipboardpp --config Debug

cmake -S dbviewer -B build/.cmake/sqlite_editor -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build build/.cmake/sqlite_editor --config Debug

Do not pass CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE when using the Visual Studio multi-configuration generator.

Android

Open android/clipboardpp-android-api in Android Studio, or build it with a local Gradle installation:

cd android\clipboardpp-android-api
gradle :app:assembleDebug

Repository map

The main application is intentionally divided by responsibility so the central coordinator and UI windows remain manageable:

src/
  app/          Application orchestration, config, tray icon, startup registration
  android/      Windows-side Android client, sync server, integration coordinator
  clipboard/    Monitor, items, histories, profile manager, persistence, image store
  security/     Windows DPAPI protection and encrypted SQLite VFS
  hotkeys/      Global hotkeys and popup keyboard forwarding
  filters/      Custom filter matching
  transforms/   Named PCRE2 paste transforms
  templates/    Named-slot and ordered-selection interpolation
  formatting/   Structured JSON, XML, and SQL formatting
  diff/         Line-aligned clipboard item comparison
  ipc/          CLI-to-GUI IPC
  ui/           Windows, themes, widgets, selection, paste diagnostics
  util/         Shared Win32 helpers

Large UI responsibilities are split into focused translation units:

• MainWindow*.cpp contains one Settings page per file.
• PopupWindowHistory.cpp, PopupWindowImages.cpp, PopupWindowPaste.cpp, and PopupWindowAndroid.cpp isolate popup subsystems.
• PopupSelectionModel owns stable ordered item selection.
• PasteDiagnostics centralizes paste and hotkey diagnostic formatting.
• ClipboardProfileManager owns profile history lifetime, persistence, switching, duplication, and deletion.
• AndroidIntegration owns Android connection, synchronization, and device coordination.

Other useful locations:

tests/          Main application tests
dbviewer/       SQLite Editor and its tests
jsonviewer/     JSON Viewer
resources/      Windows resources and manifest
icons/          SVG/ICO source and build tooling
themes/         Theme presets
docs/images/    README screenshots
third_party/    Vendored dependencies
SPEC.md         Detailed feature specification
TODO.md         Current implementation roadmap
AGENTS.md       Implementation notes and project gotchas

License and acknowledgements

License information has not been finalized.

Developed by james28909 with AI-assisted development from OpenAI Codex and Claude. See CONTRIBUTORS.md for attribution.