Documentation

macOS

A menu bar app that tells you about new entries and sends your clipboard with one click. For macOS 13 Ventura or newer, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

Install

  1. Download Clipline.dmg from Downloads.
  2. Open it and drag Clipline into Applications.
  3. Open Clipline from Applications or Spotlight. The app isn't notarized yet, so the first time macOS refuses to open it: go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. Alternatively, run this once in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Clipline.app

The clipboard icon then appears in the menu bar. Clipline has no Dock icon and no window of its own. If you don't see the icon, the menu bar may be full or Clipline may be hidden: allow it under System Settings → Menu Bar. Opening Clipline again from Applications shows its menu.

To update, download the new disk image and replace the app in Applications. Your settings stay.

Connect

On first start a window asks for:

  • Server URL: https://clipline.roedlach.tirol
  • API token: create one under API Tokens with read and create.
  • Check every: how often it looks for new entries.
  • Open Clipline at login: start it automatically. It then shows up under System Settings → General → Login Items.

Change them later under Settings… in the menu (⌘+, while the menu is open).

Notifications

macOS asks once whether Clipline may send notifications; allow it. When someone adds an entry, a notification shows who added it, the team and a preview. Copy puts the text on your clipboard; for files, Download saves them to your Downloads folder and copies them, so you can paste them in Finder. Clicking the notification itself opens Clipline in your browser. When many entries arrive at once you get one summary instead of a flood. A burn-after-reading entry shows no preview: Copy fetches it once and deletes it for everyone.

Your own entries from the same Mac don't notify you. If the menu shows Notifications Are Off, click it to open the notification settings, and turn on Allow Notifications for Clipline.

Send your clipboard

  • Option-click the menu bar icon (or middle-click it with a mouse) to send what's on your clipboard right away: text, a screenshot, or files you copied in Finder.
  • Drop files on the menu bar icon to send them.
  • Send Clipboard and Send Files… in the menu do the same.
  • Send As sends once in a special way: Clipboard – Only Me and Files – Only Me… are visible only to you; Clipboard – Burn After Reading (text only) is deleted by the first copy, by anyone.
  • Send To picks the team (by default your current team), or one person of your teams: only the two of you see what you send then (Send to a person), and the menu says Send Clipboard → Anna Berger.
Screenshots with ⌃+⇧+⌘+4 go to the clipboard instead of a file. Option-click the icon and they're sent.

Pause and mute

Under Notifications you can pause for 30 minutes, an hour, four hours, until tomorrow 8:00 or until you resume. Below that, untick teams you don't want to hear from. The menu bar icon shows pause bars while notifications are paused, and a cross while the server can't be reached.

Recent entries

Recent Entries in the menu lists what's on the clipboard right now. Click one to copy it.

Terminal tool

There is no Mac package of the clipline terminal tool yet. The Python version runs on macOS: take the zip under Other systems on Downloads, see Terminal tool. Without installing anything, curl works too.

Updates

Once a day the app asks the server whether a newer version is available. If there is one, a notification offers Install, Later or Skip This Version; Check for Updates… in the menu checks right away. Nothing is installed until you click Install, and the download is checked against the server's checksum before it runs. To stop the daily check, untick Check for updates automatically in Settings….

Install replaces Clipline where it is (for example in Applications) and opens the new version. If Clipline can't write there, it opens the disk image so you can drag the new version over by hand.

Uninstall

Quit Clipline from its menu and move it from Applications to the Trash. Your settings in ~/Library/Application Support/Clipline stay, in case you install it again.