clipmem

A searchable, local-only clipboard history for macOS. clipmem watches the system clipboard, archives every observed state into a local SQLite database, and exposes retrieval commands that return human-readable text or structured JSON — designed so agents (OpenClaw and others) can recall things you've copied. It can also run opt-in local OCR for copied images using Apple Vision, so screenshots and image-only clips become searchable without sending image data off-device.

Requirements

macOS — clipboard capture uses NSPasteboard via objc2
Apple Silicon for the prebuilt Homebrew package
Rust 1.87+ for building from source

Install

Homebrew CLI only (Apple Silicon):

brew install tristanmanchester/tap/clipmem
clipmem setup

Homebrew CLI + menu bar app (Apple Silicon):

brew install --cask tristanmanchester/tap/clipmem-app
open -a ClipmemMenuBar

See docs/installation.md for Cargo, source builds, upgrades, and Intel Mac support.

Quick start

clipmem setup                              # initialize and start background capture
clipmem recall "what was that command?"     # best-first answer
clipmem recent --hours 24                  # recent unique items
clipmem stats --hours 24                   # archive aggregates
clipmem settings ocr on                    # opt in to local image OCR
clipmem ocr run --limit 25                 # backfill OCR for existing images
clipmem doctor                             # check database health

See docs/getting-started.md for a full walkthrough.

Documentation

Installation — all install methods, requirements, and upgrades
Getting started — setup, background capture, and first queries
Searching and filtering — recall, search, timeline, OCR text, filters, and pagination
Output formats — JSON envelope, TOON, exit codes, and script-friendly guarantees
Managing your archive — restore, delete, export, and capture policy
Command reference — exhaustive flag-level reference for every command
Agent integration — OpenClaw skill installation and agent usage
Menu bar app — native SwiftUI menu bar frontend
Privacy and security — local-only guarantees, file permissions, and uninstall
Architecture — capture model, deduplication, search strategy, and limitations
Troubleshooting — diagnose empty results, watcher issues, and database problems
Contributing — project layout, build, test, and release workflow

License