Secret detection built in
Skips items flagged concealed by password managers, Luhn-valid card numbers, known key prefixes like ghp_ and AKIA, and long high-entropy tokens.
Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Clipboard
Clipboard history that
forgets your secrets
PrivateClipVault lives in your menu bar and remembers what you copy, minus passwords, card numbers and API keys. History expires on its own and is encrypted on your Mac.
Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release
Features
Convenient history, kept private.
Everything stays on your Mac, with no server, no account and no network code.
Items expire automatically
Choose a lifetime of 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day or never. Expired items are removed from disk on the next write.
Encrypted at rest
History is sealed with AES-GCM. The 256-bit key lives in your login keychain, not next to the data.
Optional Touch ID lock
Require Touch ID or your account password to view history. It re-locks after 60 seconds of inactivity and when the screen locks.
Searchable, click to copy
The menu shows your 10 most recent clips. Show All opens a searchable list, and clicking an entry copies it back.
Control over what is captured
Ignore specific apps, pause capture, clear everything, and set history size from 10 to 500 entries. Launch at login is optional.
Screenshots
See it in action.
Install
Up and running in a minute.
PrivateClipVault is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.
- Download PrivateClipVault-macOS.zip and unzip it.
- Move PrivateClipVault.app to your Applications folder.
- Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
xattr -cr /Applications/PrivateClipVault.app
- No special permissions are required macOS may ask you to approve Login Items in System Settings General only if you enable Launch at login.
Download
Get PrivateClipVault for macOS
Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Not notarized: on first launch right-click PrivateClipVault.app → Open.
- macOS 14 Sonoma+
- Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
- MIT licensed · open source
- No ads, no accounts, no telemetry
- Built with Claude Code · how and why
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is PrivateClipVault really free and open source?
Yes. It is released under the MIT license, and the full source is on GitHub. There are no ads, accounts, analytics or paid tiers.
What permissions does it need?
None of the privacy permissions: no Accessibility, Screen Recording or Microphone access. It uses the keychain for its own encryption key, and Touch ID only if you turn on the lock.
Where is my data stored?
In an encrypted file at ~/Library/Application Support/PrivateClipVault/vault.sealed on your Mac. The key is in your login keychain, and nothing is ever sent over the network.
Why isn't the app notarized?
Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, which this free project does not have. Right-click the app and choose Open once to approve it, or build it yourself from source.
Was this written by AI?
Yes. PrivateClipVault was generated by Claude Code from a written spec as a clean-room reimplementation, with no code or assets from any commercial app. The full source is on GitHub under MIT, so you can read every line before you run it. It has had less human review than a hand-written app, so bug reports are welcome.
Support ❤️
Built by one person, given away for free.
PrivateClipVault is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.
☕ Support Or on Ko-fi