Stash: The Clipboard Manager for Mac

I originally built Stash: The Clipboard Manager for myself to speed up the development workflows I repeat every day—especially the constant copying, refining, and reusing of prompts while working with coding agents. Once it became part of my routine, I realized the same focused tool could help other Mac users, outside programming: so I turned it into a simple native macOS app.

I work primarily as Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Applied AI Scientist, however building apps is how I approached programming almost 15 years ago and still today, it's one the things I enjoy the most in my spare time.

Earlier this year I got my Apple Development Account, after 3 years of owning an Macbook M1 Pro. I think it's an incredible, versatile product and I want to contribute to its rich app ecosystem.

My goal, starting from Stash, is building high quality 100% offline applications (no spoilers here) keeping the pricing straightforward: a low, one-time purchase on the Mac App Store.

Lots of free apps are popping on the store, mostly "thanks" (due) to coding assistants, cloning well known solutions. In my opinion, that's an issue to the quality bar we're used on mac and I want to position myself right in the middle, with the symbolic price tag trying to tell you: my apps are not slop, they are built with efficiency and SWE principles in mind, they will be maintained and I'll listen to your feedback.

Of course, this for me is just a side hustle, my main job pays the bills and it will stay like that :)

Follows a blog post presenting Stash main features and use cases I had in mind. I hope new ones will emerge.

A clipboard manager that fits the way Mac users work

Copy and paste runs quietly through almost every task on a Mac: a link moves from Safari to Notes, an error message travels from Xcode to a browser, and a screenshot ends up in a conversation. Because each new copy replaces your immediate clipboard content, useful material can quickly become difficult to recover while you are concentrating on the work itself.

I wanted a clipboard manager that would fit naturally into my development workflow without demanding attention, which is why Stash lives in the menu bar, opens quickly, and stays out of the Dock. I work extensively with coding agents, so I copy and reuse prompts throughout the day, often returning to the same instructions or slight variations of them. With custom labels, Stash keeps those prompts organized and lets me retrieve the right one with a quick keyboard shortcut.

Search your Mac clipboard history

Stash keeps the text, images, and files you copy in a local history that opens with the default Command-Option-O shortcut. As soon as you begin typing, the results update around your search, while content filters narrow the list to text, images, or files when a mixed history becomes too broad.

As that history grows, pins and custom labels give important entries enough structure to remain recognizable without turning clipboard management into another filing task. Image thumbnails, file icons, source application names, and dates provide useful visual context, making it easier to identify the right result before you open or copy it.

For example, labels can turn frequently reused prompts into a lightweight library for AI tools and coding agents. Give each prompt a label for its topic, project, or purpose, then combine that label with search whenever the task returns; the instructions you already copied remain easy to find, refine, and reuse without maintaining a separate prompt repository.

Because the overlay is designed for keyboard use, you can move through results with the arrow keys and press Return to copy the selected item before Stash closes. Option-Return keeps the window open for another selection, while double-clicking and native drag and drop offer equally direct paths for moving text, images, and files into compatible apps.

Find text inside screenshots with on-device OCR

Screenshots often contain the precise detail you need later, whether it is a tracking number, error message, address, or unfamiliar setting. Stash uses on-device OCR to index the words inside copied images, allowing an ordinary clipboard search to find information that never existed as selectable text.

When you use Control-Command-Shift-4, macOS places the selected screenshot directly on the clipboard, where Stash can add it to your history and process its text locally. The image then becomes searchable alongside your other copies, which is particularly useful for reference material that would otherwise be difficult to name or organize in the moment.

For context, the text extraction and classification uses Apple's on-device AI frameworks, keeping both the screenshot and its extracted text on your Mac, all the time.

Annotate copied images without leaving your workflow

When a copied image needs explanation, Stash can open it in an annotation editor with tools for arrows, rectangles, ellipses, lines, text, and freehand marks. The default Command-Option-I shortcut opens the most recent image, and saving places the finished result back on the clipboard for immediate use.

That compact workflow is useful whenever you need to point toward a button, highlight a value, or explain one area of a screenshot before sharing it. Since the edited image returns directly to the clipboard, it is ready to paste into Mail, Messages, a document, or another Mac app without an intermediate export step.

For developers working with coding agents, an annotated screenshot can make frontend feedback much more precise. Capture the interface issue, draw an arrow or rectangle around the affected element, add a short note, and paste the image into the agent conversation alongside your prompt; that visual context makes layout bugs, spacing problems, incorrect states, and responsive issues easier to understand before any code changes begin.

Copy and paste multiple items in order with Queue Mode

Some workflows follow a repetitive sequence in which you copy a name, an email address, a reference number, and an image before pasting each item into a different field. Queue Mode captures that sequence as you work, preserving its order so you can insert one item at a time without repeatedly switching back to the source.

Start recording from the menu bar or with the default Control-Option-Q shortcut, then copy each item as you normally would. Once the queue is ready, Control-Option-S inserts the next entry, while Stash keeps the remaining count visible and handles queues containing both text and images.

This approach is especially useful when you are transferring details between documents, filling out forms, preparing product listings, or moving a structured set of information from one app to another. With the order already recorded, you can concentrate on each destination instead of checking which value currently occupies the clipboard.

A private clipboard manager for Mac

Since clipboard history can contain personal and sensitive material, privacy influenced Stash from its earliest design decisions. Your history remains on your Mac, OCR and image classification run on-device, and clipboard content is never uploaded or collected, allowing the app to work without requiring an account. Just turn on airplane mode, if you don't trust me :)

Whenever you need more control, monitoring can be paused for five minutes or indefinitely, and individual apps can be excluded from capture altogether. Stash begins with a curated group of password managers already excluded, while clipboard items marked as concealed or transient by their source applications are ignored automatically.

Retention remains under your control as well, with adjustable limits for history and image storage, permanent pins for selected entries, and an option to clear unpinned content whenever you choose. Launch at Login can keep Stash available from the beginning of your day, while the menu bar status always shows whether monitoring or Queue Mode is active.

How to use Stash

1. Download Stash from the Mac App Store, which requires macOS 15 or later.
2. Complete the short introduction, review the privacy defaults, and choose whether Stash should launch when you log in.
3. Copy text, images, screenshots, and files as usual while Stash builds your local history in the background.
4. Press Command-Option-O whenever you want to search, filter, label, pin, copy, or drag an earlier item.

Application shortcuts can be changed in Stash Settings, giving you control over how the overlay, Queue Mode, and image annotation fit your existing habits. Because Paste Next is provided as a macOS Service, its shortcut is managed separately in System Settings under Keyboard Shortcuts and Services.

Who is Stash for?

Stash fits naturally into the work of developers moving code, logs, and error messages; designers and support teams sharing annotated screenshots; writers gathering links and passages; and anyone transferring small pieces of information between apps throughout the day. Queue Mode becomes particularly valuable when that work follows a structured, multi-step sequence.

For people who want a private Mac clipboard history without creating an account or enabling cloud upload, Stash keeps the experience focused and local. Its native menu bar design adds search, organization, and richer image workflows while remaining close to the familiar copy-and-paste habits already built into macOS.