Show HN: ClipCapsule – A Clipboard Manager for Linux (Built with Go and Wails)

2 months ago 2

ClipCapsule is a minimalist clipboard manager for Linux, built with Go and WailsJS. It supercharges your productivity by allowing you to manage and switch clipboard entries using only keyboard shortcuts—no mouse or GUI required.

⚠️ This is a work-in-progress project. Currently, the GUI must be open for shortcuts to work, but we're actively working on a background daemon to make the app run seamlessly without launching the interface.

🚀 Keyboard-first Workflow: Switch clipboard items instantly with CTRL + SHIFT + 1~9.
📜 Clipboard History: Automatically saves your recent copies in an embedded database.
🔄 Dynamic Reordering: Selecting an item with a shortcut moves it to the top of the stack.
🔐 Local-Only: Your data stays on your machine, no cloud syncing or telemetry.

When you copy items, the database stores them like this:

text pos

item1text	1
item2text	2
item3text	3
item4text	4
item5text	5
...	...

The item at pos = 1 is the active clipboard item (what gets pasted on CTRL + V).
Pressing CTRL + SHIFT + 3:
- Moves item3text to position 1.
- Reorders the rest accordingly.

git clone https://github.com/Victor-Evogor/clipcapsule.git cd clipcapsule

Follow instructions from the Wails documentation.

You'll need to build with elevated privileges to allow the app to listen for global key events:

🛑 Alternatively, give your user access to the keyboard input device path (e.g. /dev/input/eventX) by adding appropriate udev rules or group permissions.

Example (for testing):

sudo chmod a+r /dev/input/eventX

(Replace /dev/input/eventX with your actual keyboard event device.)

⚠️ A proper fix for permissions will be added soon. For now, elevated privileges or manual access setup is required.

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