A private, local-only clipboard manager for macOS. Everything you copy stays on your Mac — encrypted, searchable, and one keystroke away.
Free & open source · MIT · macOS 14+ · Apple silicon
Why CmdCV
🔒 Local only
Ships with no network entitlement at all — phoning home is impossible, not just promised. No sync, no analytics.
🔑 Encrypted at rest
History is stored in an encrypted database; the key lives in the macOS Keychain and unlocks transparently at login.
⌨️ Keyboard-first
Hit ⌘⇧V for a Spotlight-style panel — type to search your history, ↵ to put a clip back on the clipboard.
🙈 Respects secrets
Skips items password managers mark concealed, and honors a per-app exclude list you control.
How it works
- Copy anything.Press ⌘C in any app. CmdCV quietly saves it — plain text or rich text — encrypted, on your Mac.
- Summon it.Press ⌘⇧V anywhere and a search panel appears over whatever you’re doing.
- Find it.Type to filter your whole history; move with ↑↓ or the mouse.
- Paste it.Press ↵ (or double-click) to put the clip back on your clipboard — then ⌘V as usual.
The ⌘CV menu-bar icon also keeps your 10 most recent clips one click away.
Privacy by design
- It can’t phone home.CmdCV declares zero network entitlements, so the macOS App Sandbox blocks every connection at the OS level. No sync, no telemetry, no accounts, no update pings — there’s nowhere for your clipboard to go.
- Encrypted on disk.Your history lives in an AES-GCM-encrypted database; the key is generated on-device and stored in your login Keychain. It never leaves your Mac.
- Skips your secrets.Clips that password managers flag as concealed are never saved, and you can exclude any app so nothing copied from it is recorded.
- Nothing to take on faith.It’s open source under the MIT license — read every line, or build it yourself.
Everything it does
- Captures plain text & rich text (RTF)
- Instant search across your full history
- Configurable history size (default 300)
- Automatic de-duplication
- Rebindable global hotkey
- Menu-bar list of your 10 latest clips
- Per-app exclude list
- One-click pause & clear history
- Launch at login
- Menu-bar only — no Dock icon
Keyboard
Install
CmdCV isn’t notarized (it’s a free, open-source project), so on first launch macOS Gatekeeper will warn. Open it any one of these ways:
- Right-click CmdCV.app → Open → Open, or
- Allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or
- Run:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CmdCV.app
Only need to do this once, on first launch.
Build it yourself
Rather build from source? It’s a standard Swift + SwiftUI app, project generated with XcodeGen:
git clone https://github.com/prprasad2020/cmdcv
cd cmdcv
xcodegen generate
open CmdCV.xcodeproj # set your Team under Signing & Capabilities, then RunSigned with your own Apple ID, it opens with no Gatekeeper warning. Tests: bash Scripts/test.sh.
FAQ
Is it really local-only?
Yes. The app has no network entitlement, so the macOS App Sandbox blocks all network access at the operating-system level. There is no code path — and no permission — for your data to leave the device.
Why does macOS warn me on first launch?
CmdCV isn’t notarized, so macOS flags it on first launch. Open it once with right-click → Open, or build it yourself for a clean signature — see the Install section above.
Will it capture my passwords?
It ignores clips that password managers mark as concealed, so passwords copied from them aren’t stored. You can also add any app to the exclude list so nothing copied while it’s active is recorded.
Can I change the hotkey?
Yes — open Settings from the menu-bar icon and record any shortcut you like. You can toggle launch-at-login there too.
Is it free? Open source?
Both. CmdCV is free and MIT-licensed — the full source is on GitHub.
Which Macs are supported?
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple silicon.