Command line (clipd)

clipd is ClipTrail from a terminal: capture without the desktop app, search and script your history, and run or join a sync hub. It uses the same data folder as the app.

Install

cargo install --locked --git https://github.com/abhijitdalal26/cliptrail clipd-cli

Needs Rust 1.96 or newer; on Linux also libxcb1-dev (Debian/Ubuntu). Prebuilt archives (clipd-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip, clipd-<version>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz) are attached to each release.

On Linux, the quickest install is the script — it downloads the latest release archive, verifies the SHA-256 checksum and installs clipd to ~/.local/bin:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abhijitdalal26/cliptrail/main/install.sh | sh

sh -s -- --system installs to /usr/local/bin instead; set CLIPD_INSTALL_DIR to pick another directory. Works on any distro with curl, tar and sha256sum.

Global options

Wherever a command takes an <ID>, you can give the full id or any prefix that matches exactly one clip.

Kinds for --kind: link, code, text, contact, color, file, image, sensitive.

clipd watch

Watch the clipboard and store every copy until Ctrl C. Prints one line per event (time, outcome, kind, id), never the content, and removes expired sensitive clips every 5 minutes. Don't run it at the same time as the desktop app, which already captures.

$ clipd watch
watching clipboard → C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\ClipTrail (Ctrl+C to stop)
14:02:11  stored   link/github.com     01JBX4Q8M7T2ZK9R3D5F6H0WNC
14:02:40  stored   code/rust           01JBX4R4V1KQ8D2N6S0Y3C7FZB
14:03:05  bumped   link/github.com     01JBX4Q8M7T2ZK9R3D5F6H0WNC
14:03:30  skipped  (excluded source app)

clipd list

Recent clips, newest first.

Each row shows the id, date, kind (with language or site), flags (P pinned, + copied more than once) and a one-line preview.

clipd list --kind link -n 10
clipd list --pinned --json

clipd search

Substring search over clip text, file paths and source app.

clipd search "deploy"
clipd search kubectl --kind code --json

clipd show

One clip in full: id, kind, created and last-seen times, copy count, source app, device, size, image paths, then the content.

clipd show 01JBX4R4

clipd stats

Data folder, database size, total and pinned clips, counts by kind, top source apps and clips per day for the last 7 days.

clipd pin / unpin

clipd pin <ID> keeps a clip forever (never removed by retention); clipd unpin <ID> undoes it.

clipd delete

clipd delete <ID> deletes a clip and its image files. If sync is set up, the delete syncs to your other devices.

clipd prune

Removes expired clips (sensitive clips past their lifetime) right away instead of waiting for the next automatic pass.

clipd ingest-text / ingest-image

Store a clip without touching the clipboard, for scripts and testing. It goes through the same pipeline (classification, dedup, exclusions) as a real copy.

git log -1 --format=%H | clipd ingest-text -
clipd ingest-text "hunter2" --app keepassxc.exe   # skipped: excluded app
clipd ingest-image ./screenshot.png

clipd sync

Run a hub, pair with one, and manage devices from the terminal. These commands print device names, ids and event metadata only. Close the desktop app before using them on the same data folder.

clipd sync host

Run this data folder as the sync hub and print a pairing QR code in the terminal (press Enter for a new code, Ctrl C to stop).

clipd sync pair

clipd sync pair <URI> [--name <NAME>] pairs this data folder as a client of a hub, using the cliptrail://pair?… link from the hub. It prints the hub's name, the check code to compare, and how many existing clips were queued to share. Fails if this folder is already a hub or paired; run clipd sync reset first.

clipd sync run

Run the client loop until Ctrl C, printing connects, disconnects and event metadata. --no-images syncs thumbnails only and skips full image downloads.

devices, revoke, status, reset

# Try sync on one machine with two data folders
clipd --data-dir ./hub sync host --loopback --advertise 127.0.0.1
# in a second terminal, with the link it printed:
clipd --data-dir ./phone sync pair "cliptrail://pair?v=1&h=127.0.0.1:47821&…"
clipd --data-dir ./phone sync run

Environment variables