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.
The first release has not been published yet. Everything below is what the release pipeline builds, and the buttons start resolving the moment it runs against a tag — but today they land on an empty releases page. The browser app is the part that works now, and it is the part that matters.
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 Manual in the settings, which is the default on desktop for exactly this reason.
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
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. Until it is on npm, the same client runs
from a clone: node cli/realtimeclipboard.mjs D75LV.
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, which works today
pip install -r backend/requirements.txt
python -m uvicorn main:app --app-dir backend --port 8000The published image is waiting on the first tag; the source path is not. For 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.