Clipy

中文 | English

Clipy is a cross-platform clipboard manager for macOS and Android. It keeps clipboard history, organizes reusable snippets, transfers files over the local network, and synchronizes data between nearby devices.

Highlights

• Clipboard history: Automatically monitors, deduplicates, and stores clipboard content.
• Snippets (macOS): Organize frequently used text or code snippets in folders and paste them quickly.
• LAN sync: Synchronize clipboard history between macOS and Android devices on the same local network.
• LAN file transfer: Send files directly between devices with macOS hover actions and Android progress tracking.
• Secure transport: Encrypts network payloads with AES-GCM 256-bit encryption and a pre-shared key.
• Real-time logs: Built-in log windows help inspect sync, transfer, and debugging events.
• Custom device names: Give each device a clear name for easier discovery.
• Chinese and English UI: Switch the app language from preferences on both macOS and Android.

Screenshots

macOS Menu Bar

Snippet Editor

Architecture

macOS App

• Built with Swift and AppKit as a native menu bar app.
• MenuController renders the status bar menu and handles history, snippets, devices, and actions.
• ClipboardManager polls the system pasteboard, persists history, removes duplicates, and dispatches sync events.
• SnippetManager manages folders, snippets, shortcuts, imports, and exports (local only).
• SyncManager handles Bonjour discovery, length-prefixed TCP sync, AES-GCM encryption, hashing, and deduplication.
• SettingsWindow, SnippetEditorWindow, and LogWindow provide the main configuration and editing surfaces.

Android App

• Built with Flutter and Dart.
• lib/main.dart contains the tab-based UI for history, collector, preferences, logs, and transfer actions.
• lib/clipboard_manager.dart monitors clipboard changes, stores history, and coordinates sync events.
• lib/sync_manager.dart handles service registration, discovery, TCP sync, encryption, file transfer, and deduplication.
• lib/app_localizations.dart provides the Chinese and English text resources.

Sync Protocol

Clipy uses a LAN-first sync protocol for clipboard and file data:

• Discovery: Devices discover each other through Bonjour/mDNS (_clipy-sync._tcp).
• Transport: Raw TCP with a 4-byte big-endian length prefix per JSON message (max 2 MB per frame).
• Payloads: Clipboard and file messages are JSON payloads encrypted before transmission.
• File transfer: Files are sent in 128 KB chunks over a single ordered connection with metadata and real-time progress updates.
• Compression: Text-like file chunks are gzip-compressed when beneficial (same rules on both platforms).
• Encryption: AES-GCM 256-bit.
• Authorization: Inbound messages are accepted only from peers checked in each device's authorized list.
• Loop prevention: Content hashes such as lastSyncHash prevent rebroadcast loops.

Build

macOS

Requirements: Xcode command line tools.

./build_macos_app.sh

The script lives at the repository root, generates clipy_macos/ClipyClone.app, and installs it to /Applications.

Android

Requirements: Flutter SDK and Android SDK.

cd clipy_android
flutter pub get
flutter build apk --debug

For release builds, the GitHub workflow builds split APKs for armeabi-v7a and arm64-v8a.

Project Structure

• clipy_macos/Sources/: macOS Swift/AppKit source code.
• build_macos_app.sh: macOS app bundle build script.
• clipy_android/lib/: Android Flutter/Dart source code.
• .github/workflows/release.yml: GitHub Release automation.
• res/: README assets.

GitHub Release

Release builds are published automatically when pushing a version tag:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

The Release workflow can also be run manually from GitHub Actions with a version such as 1.0.0.

Published artifacts:

• ClipyClone-macOS-v<version>.zip
• ClipyClone-Android-armeabi-v7a-v<version>.apk
• ClipyClone-Android-arm64-v8a-v<version>.apk

License

Internal project.