Pastebook Coming soon

Everything you copy, on a shelf.

Pastebook remembers what you copy on your Mac, so you can find it again with one shortcut and paste it anywhere.

Not out yet The first alpha is being finished. The download and the Homebrew command will be on this page when it is out.

  • 0.1.0 alpha
  • Free
  • Apple Silicon · macOS 26 or newer
An illustration of the shelf, not a screenshot.

What it does

One shortcut, everything you copied

Press ⌃⌥X and a shelf slides up from the bottom of the screen with everything you have copied, newest first. Pick something and press Return: it goes straight into the app you were using.

  • Start typing to search text, links, file names and the app something came from.
  • Each item shows what it is: text, a link, an image, a file, a colour or a piece of code.
  • ⌘ with 1–9 pastes one of the first nine. Hold ⇧ to paste as plain text.
  • Items go back with their formatting, images and files intact, or as plain text if you prefer.
  • Copy the same thing twice and it moves to the front instead of appearing twice.

Pinboards for the things you reuse

Keep addresses, replies, account numbers and snippets on named, coloured pinboards. They sit as tabs on the shelf, next to your history.

  • Drag any item onto a tab to pin it there.
  • Rename, recolour and reorder pinboards, and the items inside them.
  • Pinned items are never cleared, whatever your history setting.

A vault behind your password or fingerprint

Some things should not sit in clipboard history. The vault keeps passwords, bank account details, cards, private notes and photos or PDFs of documents such as ID cards, encrypted, and opens with your password or Touch ID.

  • Move any item from the shelf into the vault. It leaves your history when it goes in.
  • The vault locks itself after five minutes by default, and always when the Mac sleeps, the screen locks or you quit.
  • Copy a password from the vault and, by default, Pastebook clears it from the clipboard 30 seconds later.
  • Nothing in the vault appears in your history or in search.

Pause, and nothing is kept

Stop Pastebook remembering what you copy for 15 minutes, an hour, until tomorrow, or until you turn it back on. Press ⌃⌥P or use the menu bar.

  • Anything copied while paused is never stored, not even after you resume.
  • The menu bar icon and the shelf both show when recording is paused.
  • A pause stays in place if you restart the Mac.

Your history, on your terms

Keep history for a day, a week, a month, a year or for good. Pastebook leaves out things that should not be remembered.

  • It skips content that apps mark as confidential, such as passwords from password managers.
  • Add any app to the ignore list and nothing copied from it is kept.
  • Erase all history whenever you like.

The same shelf on each of your Macs

Switch on sync and what you copy on this Mac, and your pinboards, follow you to your other Macs through a folder in your own iCloud Drive. It is off until you turn it on.

  • There is no Pastebook account and no Pastebook server. Your iCloud Drive carries everything.
  • Vault items travel encrypted. The other Mac opens them with the same vault password.
  • Items larger than 25 MB stay on the Mac they were copied on.
  • History brought in from another app stays on this Mac by default.

Bring your old history with you

Moving from another clipboard app? Pastebook 0.1.0 can bring in the history of one supported app, once, leaving the original untouched. The first launch tells you if it finds one.

  • Original dates, source apps, titles and pinboards come across.
  • Large images are copied in a way that takes almost no extra disk space.
  • Run it again later and it only adds what is new.

What you copy stays yours

A clipboard sees passwords, addresses and private messages. Pastebook is built to keep them on your Mac and out of anyone else's reach.

  • It stays on your Mac

    Your history lives in a folder on your Mac. Pastebook makes no network requests unless you switch on something that needs one.

  • No analytics, no account

    There is no tracking, no telemetry and nothing to sign up for.

  • Only you can open the vault

    The vault is encrypted with a key that only your password, or your fingerprint on that Mac, can unlock. Nobody can reset the password for you, including us.

  • Sync uses your own iCloud Drive

    When you switch sync on, it writes to a Pastebook folder in your iCloud Drive. Nothing passes through a server of ours.

  • Link previews are off

    Pastebook does not visit the links you copy unless you turn previews on, because opening a link can use up a one-time link.

  • Passwords are left out

    Content that apps mark as confidential is skipped by default, along with anything copied from Keychain Access, Passwords and common password managers.

Install

Not out yet

Pastebook 0.1.0 alpha is still being finished. When it is out, you will be able to download a disk image from this page or install it with Homebrew. It will be free and need a Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 26 or newer.

What macOS will ask, and why

Each of these comes up only when it is needed. The last three are optional.

Paste from other apps

The first time Pastebook reads what you copied, if macOS asks.

Pastebook can only keep what you copy if macOS lets it read the clipboard. If it is blocked, Settings says so and has a button that opens the right place in System Settings.

Accessibility

Only when you click the button for it during setup or in Settings. Optional.

It lets Pastebook press ⌘V for you in the app you were using. Without it, Pastebook puts the item on the clipboard and you press ⌘V yourself.

Touch ID

Only if you turn on fingerprint unlock for the vault.

Your fingerprint opens the vault instead of typing the password.

Open at login

Only if you turn it on in Settings.

macOS lists Pastebook under login items so it starts with your Mac.

Questions

What does it cost?

Nothing. The 0.1.0 alpha is free, with no account and no subscription.

What does alpha mean here?

This is the first public build. It does its main jobs, but expect rough edges and changes between versions.

Which Macs does it run on?

Macs with Apple Silicon running macOS 26 or newer. Intel Macs are not supported, and there is no iPhone or iPad version.

Will it remember the passwords I copy?

Not by default. It skips content that apps mark as confidential and anything copied from Keychain Access, Passwords and common password managers. You can add other apps to the ignore list.

What if I forget my vault password?

It cannot be recovered, by you or by anyone else. That is what keeps the vault private. Choose a password you will remember.

Does pausing really keep nothing?

Yes. Whatever you copy while recording is paused is never written down, and it does not appear when you resume.

Does the import change my old clipboard app?

No. Pastebook reads a copy of its history and leaves the original as it was.

How do I update?

Run brew upgrade --cask pastebook, or download the new disk image from this page. Version 0.1.0 does not update itself.

How do I remove it?

Quit Pastebook from the menu bar and move it from Applications to the Bin, or run brew uninstall --cask pastebook. Your history stays in ~/Library/Application Support/Pastebook until you delete that folder.