super_v_clipboard

A small clipboard history for Linux, like Windows' Super+V. It remembers the last 50 things you copied. Press your shortcut, pick one, and it gets pasted into the window you were typing in.

Platform support

Known limits:

• Terminals: auto-paste sends Ctrl+V, but most terminals paste with Ctrl+Shift+V. The text is still copied, so press Ctrl+Shift+V yourself.
• Non-QWERTY layouts (Dvorak, AZERTY…): Ctrl+V is sent as a physical key, so auto-paste may press the wrong key.
• Tray icon: GNOME needs the AppIndicator extension. Ubuntu has it already.
• Large copies: text over 1 MB isn't saved to the history (it still pastes normally).
• Privacy: history is saved as plain text in ~/.local/share/super_v_clipboard/history.json, and that includes any passwords you copy.

How it works

• A background daemon watches the clipboard and saves new text.
• super_v_clipboard show tells the daemon (over a Unix socket) to open its window.
• Wayland doesn't let apps type into other windows, so for auto-paste the daemon makes a tiny virtual keyboard through /dev/uinput that can only press Ctrl+V.

Written in Go. The window and tray icon use Fyne, and clipboard access uses golang.design/x/clipboard.

Install

1. Get it

Pick one option.

Option A: download a ready-made build (easiest, no Go needed). For 64-bit (x86-64) Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, or a similar distro.

wget https://github.com/naftulisinger/super_v_clipboard/releases/latest/download/super_v_clipboard-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xzf super_v_clipboard-linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd super_v_clipboard

You can also download it by hand from the Releases page.

Option B: build from source. Use this on older distros, other CPUs, or if you'd rather build it yourself.

sudo apt install git golang gcc libgl1-mesa-dev xorg-dev
git clone https://github.com/naftulisinger/super_v_clipboard.git
cd super_v_clipboard
go build -o super_v_clipboard .

You need Go 1.23 or newer (check with go version). Ubuntu 24.04's golang is too old, so on 24.04 install Go with sudo snap install go --classic instead.

2. Set it up

Run these steps from the super_v_clipboard folder you just went into.

1. Install the program:

   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   install -m755 super_v_clipboard ~/.local/bin/
   

2. Allow auto-paste (one time). This lets the app press Ctrl+V for you:

   sudo cp 60-super-v-clipboard-uinput.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
   sudo udevadm control --reload
   sudo udevadm trigger --name-match=uinput
   

   If you skip this step, picking an entry only copies it, and you paste it yourself.

3. Start it automatically at login:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
   cp super_v_clipboard.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
   systemctl --user daemon-reload
   systemctl --user enable --now super_v_clipboard
   

4. Add a keyboard shortcut. Print the exact command to use:

   echo "$HOME/.local/bin/super_v_clipboard show"
   

   Then open Settings → Keyboard → Custom Shortcuts, add a shortcut, paste that output as the command, and give it a key such as Super+V.

Usage

• Press your shortcut (or use the tray icon) to open the history.
• ↑ / ↓ to move, Enter or click to paste, Esc to close.
• Clear history deletes everything.

Troubleshooting

journalctl --user -u super_v_clipboard -n 20

• auto-paste disabled ... permission denied: redo step 2.2, then log out and back in.
• super_v_clipboard daemon is not running: run systemctl --user start super_v_clipboard.
• version 'GLIBC_2.xx' not found (downloaded build): your distro is too old for it. Use Option B to build from source.

Updating

Get the new version the same way as in step 1 (download it again, or git pull and go build -o super_v_clipboard .). Then, from the super_v_clipboard folder:

install -m755 super_v_clipboard ~/.local/bin/super_v_clipboard.new && mv ~/.local/bin/super_v_clipboard.new ~/.local/bin/super_v_clipboard
systemctl --user restart super_v_clipboard

Uninstall

These commands work from any folder:

systemctl --user disable --now super_v_clipboard
rm ~/.config/systemd/user/super_v_clipboard.service ~/.local/bin/super_v_clipboard
rm -r ~/.local/share/super_v_clipboard            # your saved history
sudo rm /etc/udev/rules.d/60-super-v-clipboard-uinput.rules

Then remove the keyboard shortcut in Settings.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please run gofmt and go vet ./... before sending changes.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.