Download RealtimeClipboard
You do not need any of this. RealtimeClipboard runs in a browser tab on every device you own, and that is the whole product. The desktop app adds one thing the browser cannot do at all: it notices what you copy while you are working somewhere else.
One click · no terminal
Install it
Download, open, done. Pick the machine you are sitting at.
Desktop — Windows, macOS, Linux
The desktop app is a window around the same page, plus a small native helper that watches the system clipboard. That helper is the reason it exists: copy in any application and it is already on your other devices before you switch to them.
It reads every copy you make while it is running. That is what you are installing. It never writes any of it to disk, and it is encrypted before it leaves the machine — but if you would rather it only sent what you choose, switch it to App in the settings.
macOS 11 and later
Download the app.dmg · one build for Intel and Apple Silicon
Background clipboard capture: yes
Linux
Download.deb, .rpm and AppImage
Background capture: yes on X11, and on Wayland under KDE and wlroots — not on GNOME, which has no portal for it.
These builds are not code-signed yet, and your computer will say so. Windows shows “Windows protected your PC” — choose More info → Run anyway. macOS refuses the first launch; open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Neither means the file is damaged: a certificate costs money per year and this project has not bought one, so nothing vouches for the binary except the checksum on the release page and the fact that you can read every line that went into it.
Android, iPhone and iPad
There is no app to install, and that is a deliberate decision rather than a gap. Neither platform lets any app read the clipboard in the background — Android restricted it in version 10, and iOS has never allowed it. A native app could therefore offer a share-sheet button and a store listing, and nothing else that the page you are reading this on cannot already do.
So add it to your home screen instead. It gets its own icon and window, and works offline.
Android & ChromeOS
- Open the app in Chrome.
- Menu → Add to Home screen, or tap the install prompt.
Background clipboard capture: not possible — long-press and paste into the app, or copy from it.
iPhone & iPad
- Open the app in Safari. Chrome on iOS cannot install it.
- Tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
Background clipboard capture: not possible — paste into the app, or share to it.
Command line · advanced
Install from a terminal
The same builds, from a package manager you already trust to update them — and, for machines with no desktop at all, a client that is all pipe and no window.
Package managers
Two, and only once they are real. Each is a manifest
tools/release/manifest.mjs generates from the release,
which then has to be reviewed and merged by somebody else — so the
command works when the tag on it says so, and not before.
Windows — winget
in reviewwinget install AkshayNikhare.RealtimeClipboardThe 0.3.0 manifest is submitted and waiting on Microsoft's reviewers, which takes days rather than minutes. This command starts working the moment it merges, and not before. Windows package notes
macOS — Homebrew
brew install --cask akshaynikhare/tap/realtimeclipboard
The cask installs the same universal build the button above hands
you, and updates with brew upgrade. It also strips the
quarantine flag, so you skip the Gatekeeper dance the manual
download needs.
macOS package notes
Linux — none
No Flathub, Snap or AUR package, and no command here pretending
otherwise. Take the .deb, .rpm or
AppImage above; each is a single file and none of them needs a
repository.
Linux package notes
Inside your editor
A clipboard that follows you between machines without leaving the window you are already in. It keeps syncing while the editor is in the background, which is the one thing the web app cannot do.
VS Code
code --install-extension cadnative.realtimeclipboardOr search RealtimeClipboard in the Extensions view. Needs VS Code 1.100 or newer. View on the Marketplace
Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium
ext install cadnative.realtimeclipboardNone of the VS Code forks may use Microsoft's marketplace, so the same build is published to Open VSX, which is where they all look. Gitpod and code-server too. View on Open VSX
In your browser
A popup and two keyboard shortcuts, for sending what you copied without opening the app.
Edge
One click, and it updates itself. Edge Add-ons is the only Chromium store this is listed on, and it only installs into Edge. Get it on Edge Add-ons
Chrome, Brave, Opera, Arc — load unpacked
# 1. take realtimeclipboard-browser-<version>.zip from the release above
# 2. unzip it somewhere you will keep it
# 3. chrome://extensions -> Developer mode -> Load unpacked -> pick the folder
Keep the folder: the browser reads it at every launch, so a
Downloads directory you empty is the wrong home. There is no
auto-update this way, and Chrome will occasionally ask whether you
meant to keep a developer-mode extension. There is no one-click
installer here because no release ships a .crx — and
on Windows and macOS Chrome would refuse one from outside its Web
Store anyway.
Latest release
Chromium only — Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Arc. Not Firefox: the clipboard bridge needs an API Firefox does not implement. And it does not sync in the background on any browser, which is what the desktop app and the editor extension are for.
Servers, SSH and scripts
A command-line client, for the machines that have no clipboard at all. It speaks the same protocol and the same encryption as the browser — it imports the very same files — so a clip sent from a server appears on your laptop like any other.
npx realtimeclipboard D75LVWhat it is for
# pipe something in
echo "deploy key" | npx realtimeclipboard send D75LV
# take the next clip and stop
npx realtimeclipboard watch D75LV --once > token.txt
# from a box you are ssh'd into
ssh build-01 'cat /var/log/deploy.log' | npx realtimeclipboard send D75LV
Needs Node 22 or newer, and installs nothing: npx
fetches it on demand.
The command-line guide
Run your own relay
The relay carries encrypted clips between devices. It never sees anything but a room hash and ciphertext, and it stores nothing — but you do not have to take that on trust, because you can run it yourself. It is one Python file with no database.
docker run -p 8000:8000 ghcr.io/akshaynikhare/realtimeclipboard-relayOr from source
pip install -r backend/requirements.txt
python -m uvicorn main:app --app-dir backend --port 8000For TLS and a real hostname use deploy/docker-compose.yml, and there is a Helm chart beside it. Then point the app at your relay under Settings → Relay. The self-hosting guide
Every platform, written out at more length, with the reasons behind the limitations: the installation guide.