Iris
Clipboard history for macOS. Press ⌘⇧V, arrow to what you copied, press Return — it pastes into the app you were already in.
Download IrisThis is an early build
Read this before installing. Iris is being built in the open and this build exists so it can be tried and reviewed, not because it is finished. It keeps your clipboard history on your Mac and pastes it back. That is all it does today.
What works
- It remembers what you copy. Text and links, captured about five times a second, so a clip is there the instant you go looking for it.
- ⌘⇧V opens your history over whatever you are working in.
- Arrows choose, Return pastes into the app you came from. ⌘1 through ⌘9 paste by position.
- It skips your passwords. Anything a password manager marks concealed, or an app marks transient, is never stored.
- It survives a restart. Your history is still there tomorrow.
- It updates itself. Iris checks for a new version once a day and every update is verified against a key built into the app. That check is its only network call.
- Nothing else leaves your Mac. No account, no sync, no telemetry.
What is not there yet
- Search. Today the panel shows your history newest-first and nothing more.
- Images and files. Only text and links are captured.
- Pinboards, previews, transforms, and cross-device sync.
Installing
- Open the downloaded
Iris.dmgand drag Iris into Applications. - Open it. The build is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with no warning and no Terminal step.
- Iris runs in the menu bar with no Dock icon. Copy something, then press ⌘⇧V.
- The first time you press Return to paste, macOS asks for Accessibility access. Iris needs it to press ⌘V in the other app for you — that is the only thing it uses the permission for. Decline it and Iris still works: it puts the clip on your clipboard and tells you to paste it yourself.
Why it needs Accessibility
A clipboard manager has to put text into an app it does not own. There is exactly one supported way to do that on macOS: ask the system to deliver a ⌘V to whatever is frontmost. That API is gated behind Accessibility, and every clipboard manager that pastes for you uses it.
Iris is deliberately not sandboxed, for the same reason. A sandboxed app cannot send that keystroke at all. The trade is stated plainly rather than buried: Iris asks for a real permission, and in return it never sends your clipboard anywhere.
Uninstalling
Quit Iris from the menu bar, drag it to the Trash, and remove its history:
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Iris