Features Overview

Features Overview

Clipboard Recast offers a comprehensive set of features designed to enhance your productivity with AI-powered clipboard transformations.

Core Features

1. Intelligent Clipboard Monitoring

• Real-time Detection: Monitors clipboard changes every 500ms
• Content Type Recognition: Automatically identifies 12+ content types:
  • Code: Detects programming patterns, keywords, indentation
  • Error: Recognizes error keywords and stack traces
  • URL: HTTP/HTTPS web addresses
  • Screenshot: Clipboard images and desktop screenshots
  • JSON: JSON-formatted data
  • XML: XML-formatted data
  • Markdown: Markdown-formatted text
  • HTML: HTML content
  • CSV: Comma-separated values
  • Email: Email content
  • File Path: File system paths
  • Text: General text (fallback)
• Zero Performance Impact: Lightweight polling mechanism with minimal CPU usage

2. Multi-Provider AI Integration

Support for 8+ major AI providers with a unified interface:

Provider	Default Model
Claude (Anthropic)	claude-sonnet-4-5
OpenAI	gpt-4-turbo-preview
Google Gemini	gemini-pro
Vertex AI	gemini-pro
OpenRouter	claude-sonnet-4-5
Cerebras	llama3.1-8b
Together AI	llama-3-70b
z.ai	z.ai-turbo

Switch between providers at any time without losing your workflows.

3. Transformation Workflows Engine

• Workflow-Based Processing: Define custom transformation workflows
• Multi-Step Execution: Chain multiple actions in sequence
• Conditional Branching: Create dynamic workflows with if/then logic
• Flexible Matching: Match by content type, keywords, or both
• Auto-Trigger Option: Automatically process matching content
• Priority System: Multiple workflows can match - you choose which to apply
• Persistent Storage: Workflows saved locally and persist across app restarts

36+ Built-in Actions

AI Processing (9 actions)

1. Explain: Simplify and explain complex content
2. Summarize: Extract key points and main ideas
3. Translate: Convert to English (or other languages)
4. Fix Grammar: Correct spelling and grammar mistakes
5. Simplify: Make text more accessible and easier to read
6. Search Solutions: Find fixes for error messages and bugs
7. Generate Code: Create code from natural language descriptions
8. Improve: Optimize and enhance content quality
9. Custom AI Prompt: Define your own prompts for specialized tasks

System Actions (9 actions)

• Open in Browser, Open in Preview, Reveal in Finder
• Open File, Compose Email, Show Notification
• Copy to Clipboard, Fetch URL Content, Exclude from History

File Actions (3 actions)

• Save to Folder, Save to Desktop, Save to Downloads

Text Manipulation (6 actions)

• Convert to UPPERCASE, Convert to lowercase
• Convert to snake_case, Convert to camelCase
• Count Words, Count Characters

Encoding/Decoding (4 actions)

• Base64 Encode, Base64 Decode
• URL Encode, URL Decode

Developer Tools (6 actions)

• Format JSON, Minify JSON, Format XML
• Generate UUID, Timestamp to Date, Date to Timestamp

Format Conversion (6 actions)

• Markdown to HTML, HTML to Markdown
• JSON to YAML, YAML to JSON
• Escape HTML, Unescape HTML

4. Menu Bar Integration

• Always Accessible: Lives in the macOS menu bar
• No Dock Icon: Runs as an accessory app (LSUIElement)
• Clean Interface: Simple dropdown menu with quick access to all features
• Status Indicator: Clipboard icon shows the app is running

5. Clipboard History

Never lose something you copied again. Clipboard Recast keeps a searchable history of everything you copy:

• Automatic Capture: Every copy is saved instantly — no manual action needed
• Up to 100 Items: Stores the 100 most recent clipboard entries (unpinned)
• Full-Text Search: Find any past item by typing in the search bar
• Content-Type Filtering: Browse by type — Text, Code, URLs, Images, JSON, and more
• App Filter: See only items copied from a specific application
• Pin Items: Pin important items so they stay at the top and are never auto-removed
• Rich Preview: See the full content of any item, with image previews and formatted code
• One-Key Restore: Press Enter to instantly copy a history item back to your clipboard
• Persistent: History survives app restarts and reboots
• Global Shortcut: Open from anywhere with Cmd+Shift+H (customizable)

See Clipboard History for full details.

6. Global Hotkey Support

• Cmd+Shift+A: Trigger clipboard transformation from anywhere
• Cmd+Shift+H: Open clipboard history from anywhere (default, customizable)
• System-Wide: Works in all applications
• No Context Switching: Stay focused on your current task
• Accessibility Integration: Uses macOS event monitoring for reliability

7. Settings Management

• Secure Storage: API keys saved in macOS UserDefaults (encrypted by system)
• Easy Configuration: Simple GUI for all settings
• Provider Switching: Change AI providers anytime
• Custom Models: Override default models for advanced users
• Project ID Support: Special handling for Google Vertex AI

8. Workflows Management UI

• Visual Workflow Editor: Table-based workflow browser
• Multi-Step Builder: Add multiple steps to workflows
• Conditional Branching: Configure branch conditions visually
• Add/Edit/Delete: Full CRUD operations on workflows
• Workflow Details: View all workflow parameters at a glance
• Toggle Workflows: Enable/disable without deleting
• Auto-Process Toggle: Master switch for automatic processing

Condition Types for Branching

• Always, Text contains, Text doesn’t contain
• Content type is, Length greater than, Length less than
• Image width >, Image height >, URL matches pattern
• Custom expression (with variables: length, width, height, type, contains())

9. Result Display

• Side-by-Side View: See original content and AI result together
• Easy Actions:
  • Copy result to clipboard
  • Replace clipboard with result
• Scrollable Views: Handle long content gracefully
• Syntax-Neutral: Works with all content types

10. Smart Notifications

• Processing Alerts: Know when AI is working on your content
• Success/Error Feedback: Clear status messages
• Non-Intrusive: Uses native macOS notification system
• Action Integration: Launch transformations directly from notifications

11. Screenshot Intelligence

• Automatic Detection: Monitors desktop for new screenshots
• Clipboard Screenshots: Handles clipboard-only screenshots too
• Visual Thumbnails: See screenshot previews in history
• Vision AI: Analyze screenshots with AI (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini)
• OCR & Analysis: Extract text, explain diagrams, debug UI

12. MCP Server Integration

Connect external tools and services via the Model Context Protocol (MCP):

• Extensible Architecture: Add new capabilities through MCP servers
• Pre-built Templates: Quick setup for popular servers (Filesystem, GitHub, Slack, PostgreSQL, etc.)
• Multiple Transports: Support for stdio, HTTP, and SSE connections
• Tool Discovery: Automatically discover available tools from connected servers
• Workflow Integration: Use MCP tools as steps in your workflows
• AI Orchestration: Let AI automatically build tool arguments from clipboard content

Popular MCP Integrations:

Server	Capabilities
Filesystem	Read, write, search local files
GitHub	Create issues, PRs, search code
Slack	Send messages, manage channels
PostgreSQL	Query databases
Brave Search	Web search
Puppeteer	Browser automation

See MCP Servers for setup and usage details.

Security & Privacy

• Local-Only Storage: All data stays on your Mac
• No Analytics: Zero tracking or telemetry
• API Key Protection: Stored securely in macOS UserDefaults
• Direct API Calls: No intermediary servers
• Privacy First: No data collection or external transmission

Performance Characteristics

• Memory Footprint: ~15-20 MB typical usage
• CPU Usage: Near-zero when idle
• Clipboard Polling: 0.5s interval (2 Hz)
• Network: Only active when processing transformations
• Startup Time: Less than 1 second

Use Cases

For Developers

• Code understanding and explanation
• Error debugging with AI-suggested solutions
• Code review and optimization suggestions
• Documentation generation from code
• Refactoring recommendations

For Writers

• Grammar and spelling correction
• Text simplification and clarity improvement
• Summarization of long articles
• Translation of foreign text
• Writing style enhancement

For Students

• Explaining complex textbook content
• Summarizing lecture notes
• Research paper analysis
• Language learning assistance
• Problem-solving hints

For Business

• Email drafting and improvement
• Report executive summaries
• Meeting notes to action items
• Customer support solutions
• Content creation assistance

Comparison with Alternatives

vs. Copy/Paste + AI Chat

• ✅ Faster: Single hotkey vs. switching apps
• ✅ Context-Aware: Auto-detects content type
• ✅ Workflow-Based: Automatic processing
• ✅ No Context Switching: Stay in your current app

vs. Browser Extensions

• ✅ Universal: Works in all apps, not just browser
• ✅ Native: No web dependency
• ✅ Faster: Direct API calls
• ✅ More Private: No browser history exposure

vs. Raycast/Alfred AI

• ✅ Specialized: Focused on clipboard workflows
• ✅ Lighter: Smaller memory footprint
• ✅ More Providers: 8+ AI services
• ✅ Custom Workflows: More flexible automation

What’s Next?

Learn how to use these features effectively:

• Usage Guide: Learn manual and automatic transformations
• Clipboard History: Browse, search, and restore past clipboard items
• Workflows: Master workflow automation
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Speed up your workflow
• Screenshots: Work with screenshot intelligence