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ClipGuard is a cross-platform clipboard guard that monitors everything you copy, detects sensitive patterns, and stores a masked history you can safely revisit. It ships with a modern PySide6 desktop UI, granular filters, and configurable rules so you stay in control of what leaves your clipboard.
- Real-time protection – Background worker watches the clipboard and reacts instantly without blocking the UI.
- Sensitive pattern masking – Built-in rules cover ID cards, bank cards, phone numbers, emails, and IP addresses; add your own keywords at runtime.
- Rich history browser – Filter by content type or source application, search the backlog, pin favorites, or send items to the trash.
- Context-aware details – Each record keeps the desensitised preview, optional raw content, originating application, and detection types for auditability.
- Configurable experience – Tweak polling interval, notification preferences, raw-content retention, and more through the settings dialog.
- Packaging ready – build.py wraps PyInstaller so you can produce distributable bundles with one command.
- Python 3.9 or newer (3.11+ recommended)
- PySide6 for the Qt UI
- pyperclip (macOS/Linux clipboard access)
- psutil and pywin32 (Windows foreground app detection)
- pyobjc-framework-AppKit (macOS foreground app detection)
- SQLite is bundled with Python and used for history storage
Optional but recommended:
- pytest for future automated tests
- pipx or virtual environments to isolate dependencies
Launch the app in development mode:
The UI will start monitoring immediately (if permissions allow). Copy text from different applications and watch ClipGuard populate the history list with masked previews.
- Settings file: ~/.clipguard/config.json is created on first launch. Editable fields include polling interval (poll_interval), raw-content retention (save_raw_content), custom sensitive keywords (custom_sensitive_keywords), monitoring toggles, theme, language, and more. Use the in-app Settings dialog to keep the file consistent.
- Database: SQLite history lives at ~/.clipguard/clipboard.db. Full-text search tables are maintained automatically.
- Attachments & assets: UI resources are bundled under assets/; adjust icons or themes there if you want to reskin the app.
build.py wraps PyInstaller with sensible defaults for macOS, Windows, and Linux. After installing PyInstaller:
Artifacts are created under dist/. macOS users will get a .app bundle alongside the single-file binary; Windows/Linux receive a standalone executable.
- Clipboard monitoring: core/clipboard_worker.ClipboardWorker runs on a QThread, relaying new clipboard entries back to the UI thread via Qt signals.
- Filtering & search: The sidebar dynamically lists observed applications and content types. Full-text search leverages a SQLite FTS virtual table for responsive results.
- Sensitive detection: sensitive_detector.detect_and_mask applies regex-based scrubbing and supports runtime user keywords. Extend this module for additional patterns or ML-based classification.
- Packaging: Remember to clear build/ and dist/ before committing. Icons under assets/icons are referenced in both the UI and PyInstaller spec.
- ML-assisted content classification and risk scoring
- Cloud sync and encrypted history storage
- Rule-based automation (auto-delete, auto-tag)
- Cross-platform shortcut integration (global hotkeys)
Community contributions are welcome! Until a dedicated CONTRIBUTING.md lands, please:
- Open an issue describing the bug or feature you intend to work on.
- Keep pull requests focused and reference related issues.
- Run the app (python main.py) and, if applicable, python build.py before submitting.
- Attach screenshots or recordings for visible UI changes.
Need help or have ideas? Open an issue or discussion thread once the repository is public—ClipGuard’s roadmap is flexible and community feedback is invaluable.
