rklipd

A lightweight clipboard history manager for Linux — daemon + TUI client.

Features

Captures text and images automatically (X11 polling & Wayland events)
SQLite storage — images saved as JPEG (quality 70)
Fuzzy search (~), regex search (/pattern), date filters (after:2025-01 before:2025-06-01)
Type filter: All / Text / Image (t)
Per-entry AES-256-GCM encryption with Argon2 password (e)
Syntax highlighting in preview (300+ languages via syntect)
Image preview in terminal (sixel / kitty / halfblocks via ratatui-image)
Undo last delete (u)
IPC Unix socket — fully scriptable

Architecture

rklipd (daemon)                   rklip (TUI client)
┌─────────────────────┐           ┌──────────────────────┐
│ monitor (X11/Wayland│──────────▶│ app.rs  (state)      │
│ database.rs (SQLite)│◀──IPC────▶│ ui.rs   (ratatui)    │
│ ipc.rs  (Unix sock) │           │ ipc.rs  (client)     │
│ crypto.rs (AES-GCM) │           │ crypto.rs (Argon2)   │
└─────────────────────┘           └──────────────────────┘

~/.local/share/com.zefad.rklipd/
├── clipboard.db      # SQLite history
├── images/           # JPEG images
├── master.key        # Machine key (enc:)
├── crypto2.salt      # Argon2 salt  (enc2:)
└── rklip.sock        # IPC socket

Build & Install

Dependencies: libxcb (X11) or Wayland libs, libsqlite3

# X11
cargo build --release --features x11 -p rklipd
cargo build --release -p rklip

# Wayland
cargo build --release --features wayland -p rklipd
cargo build --release -p rklip

# Install
sudo cp target/release/rklipd /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp target/release/rklip  /usr/local/bin/

Autostart (systemd user):

# ~/.config/systemd/user/rklipd.service
[Unit]
Description=rklipd clipboard daemon

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/rklipd
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

systemctl --user enable --now rklipd

Usage

rklipd [OPTIONS]          # start daemon
rklip                     # open TUI

Options:
  --max-entries <N>        Max history entries        (default: 500)
  --max-entry-size-kb <N>  Max text entry size in KB  (default: 512)
  --expiry-days <N>        Auto-delete entries > N days

Keybindings

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Next entry
`k` / `↑`	Previous entry
`Enter`	Paste selected & quit
`/`	Fuzzy search mode
`t`	Cycle type filter (All → Text → Image)
`e`	Encrypt / Decrypt selected entry
`dd`	Delete selected (confirm)
`u`	Undo last delete
`gg` / `G`	Jump to top / bottom
`Ctrl+j/k`	Scroll preview
`:clear`	Clear entire history
`:p`	Set session password
`q` / `:q`	Quit

Search syntax:

rust                        # fuzzy match
/fn\s+\w+\(                 # regex (prefix with /)
after:2025-01 before:2025-06 config   # date filters + text

Encryption

Two independent layers:

Prefix	Method	Key source	Use case
`enc:`	AES-256-GCM	Machine key (`master.key`)	Legacy / auto
`enc2:`	Argon2 + AES-256-GCM	User password	Sensitive entries

Press e on any entry to encrypt/decrypt with a password. Encrypted entries show as 🔒 [Chiffré] and require your password to paste.

IPC (scripting)

The daemon exposes a JSON Unix socket. Example with socat:

# Fetch last 5 entries
echo '{"GetHistory":{"limit":5}}' | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:~/.local/share/com.zefad.rklipd/rklip.sock

# Set clipboard content
echo '{"SetClipboard":{"content":"hello"}}' | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:...

# Clear history
echo '"ClearHistory"' | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:...