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ClipVault

A modern, native clipboard manager for Windows. Win+V on steroids — unlimited history, search, pinning, auto-paste, dark mode. No cloud, no accounts, no limits.


Why ClipVault?

The default Windows clipboard history is limited to 25 items, doesn't persist across restarts, and loses images quickly. ClipVault fixes all of that:

Windows Clipboard ClipVault
25-item limit Unlimited history (configurable)
Cleared on restart Persistent across reboots
No search Full-text search with instant filtering
No pinning Pin important items so they never get deleted
Basic text only Text, images, URLs, and HTML with smart detection
No source tracking Shows which app you copied from
No auto-paste Click an item and it pastes directly into your active app

Install

Grab the latest installer from Releases:

  • ClipVault_x.y.z_x64-setup.exe — NSIS installer, ~2 MB
  • ClipVault_x.y.z_x64_en-US.msi — MSI installer, ~2.7 MB

Run it. ClipVault launches automatically and lives in your system tray. Press Win+V to open.

No configuration needed. No accounts. No internet connection required. Everything stays on your machine.


Key Features

Instant access with Win+V

ClipVault registers a global hotkey and opens a sleek, frameless panel in the bottom-right corner of your screen — exactly where the Windows clipboard appears. It feels native because it is.

Smart content detection

Every clipboard entry is automatically categorized:

  • Text — plain text with a preview
  • URL — detected via pattern matching, displayed with a link icon
  • Image — screenshots and copied images are stored with auto-generated thumbnails
  • HTML — rich text content from browsers and editors

Deduplication

Copy the same thing twice? ClipVault won't create a duplicate. It uses SHA-256 hashing to detect identical content and bumps the timestamp instead.

Pin important items

Pin frequently-used snippets — email signatures, code blocks, addresses — and they stay locked at the top of your history, even when you clear everything else.

Full-text search

Start typing in the search bar and your entire clipboard history is filtered instantly. Find that link you copied three days ago in seconds.

Auto-paste

Click any item in ClipVault and it doesn't just copy — it pastes directly into whatever app has focus. The panel hides, the content goes to your clipboard, and a simulated Ctrl+V keystroke delivers it where your cursor is. All under 200ms.

Source app tracking

Every clipboard entry records which application it came from. See at a glance whether that snippet was from VS Code, Chrome, or Slack.

Dark and light themes

Full theme support with a Windows 11-inspired design. Dark, Light, or System (follows your Windows theme automatically).

Starts with Windows

ClipVault registers itself to launch on startup. It sits quietly in your system tray, always ready. Right-click the tray icon for quick access to settings or to quit.


Technical Architecture

ClipVault is built with a modern, performance-focused stack:

  • Tauri v2 — Rust-based framework for building desktop apps. Unlike Electron, Tauri produces tiny binaries (~2 MB installer) and uses the system's built-in WebView2 instead of bundling an entire browser.
  • React 18 + TypeScript — Responsive component-based UI with full type safety.
  • Rust — All system-level operations (clipboard access, hotkeys, tray icon, database, window management, paste simulation) run in Rust for maximum performance and reliability.
  • SQLite — Clipboard history stored locally at %APPDATA%\ClipVault\. Fast, reliable, zero-config.
  • Tailwind CSS v4 — Utility-first CSS for a clean, consistent UI without bloat.
  • Zustand — Lightweight state management for the React frontend.

How auto-paste works

When you click an item:

  1. The ClipVault panel hides itself (so the target app regains focus)
  2. A 50ms delay lets the OS transfer focus
  3. The selected content is written to the system clipboard
  4. A background thread waits 100ms, then uses the Windows SendInput API to simulate a physical Ctrl+V keypress
  5. The target app receives the paste as if you pressed the keys yourself

All under 200ms — it feels instant.

How clipboard watching works

A background Rust thread polls the system clipboard every 500ms using the arboard crate. On each change:

  1. Content type is detected (text, image, URL, or HTML)
  2. A SHA-256 hash is computed for deduplication
  3. The source application is identified via the Windows GetForegroundWindow API
  4. If the hash is new, a database row is inserted; if it exists, the timestamp is updated
  5. A clipboard-updated event is emitted to the React frontend
  6. The UI updates in real-time without polling

A skip flag prevents ClipVault from re-capturing its own paste operations.


The Numbers

Metric Value
Installer size 2.0 MB (NSIS) / 2.7 MB (MSI)
Binary size ~5.3 MB
Memory usage ~15–25 MB
Clipboard poll interval 500 ms
Auto-paste latency < 200 ms
Supported content types 4 (text, image, URL, HTML)
Frontend bundle < 500 KB
Database SQLite, local, zero-config

Develop

Requires Node.js 18+, pnpm, and the Rust toolchain (with the Tauri prerequisites for your OS — see tauri.app/start/prerequisites).

git clone https://github.com/Asadulelah/clipvault.git
cd clipvault
pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

To build a release installer:

pnpm tauri build

Installers land in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.


Settings

Access settings from the gear icon in the panel footer or from the system tray:

  • Theme — Light / Dark / System
  • Launch on startup — Enabled by default
  • Show source app — Toggle source app labels on clipboard items
  • History limit — Set a maximum number of items to keep (0 = unlimited)
  • Hotkey — Currently Win+V (displayed in settings)

Roadmap

Things on the table for v2:

  • Customizable hotkeys
  • Snippet templates with placeholders
  • Category/tag organization
  • Export/import clipboard history
  • Rich text preview for HTML content
  • Favorites and collections
  • macOS and Linux builds

License

MIT — use it, fork it, ship your own version.


Built by

Asadulelah — framework designer + AI-leveraged builder. This entire app — from the Rust backend to the React frontend, from the SQLite schema to the Windows installer — was designed and built in a single intense development session using AI agentic tools as the pair programmer. The frameworks behind that workflow are documented across my other repos.


ClipVault — built for Windows 10/11 (x64).

About

A modern, native clipboard manager for Windows. Tauri + React + Rust. Win+V replacement with unlimited history, search, pinning, and auto-paste.

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