ClipDrop: Turn Your Mac Clipboard Into Files Instantly

TL;DR: ClipDrop eliminates the copy-paste-save workflow. Install with pip install clipdrop, then use clipdrop filename to save clipboard content. Auto-detects formats (JSON, Markdown, images), transcribes audio with Apple Intelligence, scans for AWS keys and secrets—all offline.

What ClipDrop Actually Does

Look, here's the deal. You copy stuff all day long. Screenshots, code snippets, API responses, whatever. And every single time you want to save something, it's this whole production. Open an app, paste, navigate folders, name the file, pick a format… honestly, it's ridiculous.

ClipDrop fixes that. You copy something, type clipdrop filename, done. That's literally it.

I know it sounds too simple to be useful, but trust me on this one. Once you start using it, going back feels like typing with mittens on.

Getting Started (Seriously, It's One Command)

First things first, you need Python installed. If you're on a Mac, you probably already have it. Then:

pip install clipdrop

That's the whole installation. Want YouTube transcript support too?

pip install clipdrop[youtube]

Now try this. Copy this text you're reading right now. Go to your terminal and type:

clipdrop test

Check your current directory. There's now a file called test.txt with this text in it. No dialogs, no questions, just... done.

The Basics You'll Use Every Day

Just Save It

The simplest use case — you've got something in your clipboard, you want it in a file:

clipdrop notes          # Creates notes.txt (or .md, .json - it figures it out)
clipdrop report.pdf     # Yep, makes PDFs too
clipdrop screenshot.png # After taking a screenshot

Building Documents Throughout the Day

This is where it gets good. You're collecting stuff all day? Use append mode:

clipdrop journal.md -a

Every time you run that, it adds to the file with a nice separator. Perfect for daily notes, research collection, whatever. I use this constantly for meeting notes — copy something important, clipdrop meeting.md -a, keep going.

Preview Before You Commit

Not sure what's in your clipboard? Or want to see how it'll look?

clipdrop something.txt -p

Shows you what it's about to save. Simple but super handy when you're not sure what you last copied.

The Smart Stuff That Just Works

Format Detection

Here's something neat — ClipDrop actually looks at what you copied and figures out the right format. Copy some JSON? Type clipdrop data and it saves as data.json. Markdown with headers and lists? Becomes .md automatically.

It's not perfect, but it's right like 90% of the time. And when it's not sure, it just goes with .txt which is fine.

Audio Transcription (This Is Wild)

Okay, this one's actually cool. If you're on macOS 15.4 or later, ClipDrop can transcribe audio files using Apple's on-device AI. Record something on your iPhone, AirDrop it to your Mac, copy the file, then:

clipdrop

It automatically detects it's audio and creates a transcript with timestamps. Completely offline, nothing goes to any server. Your meeting stays your meeting.

Want it as plain text instead of SRT format?

clipdrop notes.txt

The transcription happens in real-time too — you see the words appearing as it processes. Kind of mesmerizing honestly.

YouTube Transcripts

Need to grab a transcript from a YouTube video? Copy the URL, then:

clipdrop -yt

That's it. Downloads the whole transcript. You can specify language too:

clipdrop -yt lecture.md --lang es  # Spanish

Super useful for research, taking notes on tutorials, whatever. Beats trying to manually transcribe videos.

The Paranoid Mode That Saved My Bacon

True story — I once almost saved an AWS key to a shared folder. Would've been… not great. So ClipDrop now has secret scanning:

clipdrop config.env -s

The -s flag scans for:

AWS credentials
API keys (OpenAI, Stripe, you name it)
GitHub tokens
Private keys
Anything that looks suspiciously like a secret

If it finds something, it asks what you want to do. You can redact the secrets, skip saving, or save anyway if you know what you're doing.

clipdrop keys.txt --scan-mode redact  # Auto-replaces secrets with [REDACTED]

Has literally saved me from myself multiple times.

Real Workflows That Actually Save Time

For Developers

You're debugging, copying stack traces, API responses, code snippets. Instead of keeping 50 TextEdit windows open:

# Copy error message
clipdrop debug.log -a
# Copy API response
clipdrop response.json
# Building a snippets file
clipdrop snippets.py -a

Pro tip: alias it in your .zshrc:

alias cda='clipdrop -a'  # Now it's just: cda debug.log

For PMs and Designers

Screenshots. So many screenshots. But now:

# Take screenshot with CMD+CTRL+SHIFT+4
clipdrop feature-x.png
# Building a visual changelog
clipdrop changelog/v2.1.png

Or when you're doing competitive research — copy images from websites, save them instantly with meaningful names. No more "Screenshot 2024–03–15 at 3.47.23 PM.png" nonsense.

For Writers and Researchers

This workflow has changed how I do research:

# Find interesting paragraph, copy it
clipdrop research.md -a
# YouTube video with good info
clipdrop -yt sources.md -a
# Building an article over time
clipdrop draft.md -a

Each append adds a separator, so your document stays organized even though you're adding to it randomly throughout the day.

The Daily Journal Pattern

Simple but effective:

# Morning
echo "$(date): Starting the day" | pbcopy && clipdrop journal.md -a
# Throughout the day
clipdrop journal.md -a
# End of day
clipdrop journal.md -a

Builds a timestamped log without any fancy apps or systems. Just copy, append, move on.

The Weird Edge Cases We Handle

Mixed Content

Sometimes your clipboard has both text and an image (happens more than you'd think). ClipDrop can handle it:

clipdrop report.pdf  # Creates PDF with both
clipdrop --text-only notes.txt  # Just the text
clipdrop --image-only screenshot.png  # Just the image

Format Conversion

Need to save JSON as YAML? Or Markdown as plain text? Just specify the extension:

# Clipboard has JSON, but you want YAML
clipdrop config.yaml
# Markdown to plain text
clipdrop readme.txt

It's not doing crazy conversion magic, but it handles the basics.

Large Files

Trying to save something huge? ClipDrop has limits (because nobody needs a 2GB clipboard save). It'll warn you if something's too big and for secret scanning, it only checks the first 1MB because that covers 99.9% of accidents without slowing everything down.

Platform Requirements and Limitations

Let's be straight about what works where:

Basic features: macOS 10.15 or later. That's most of ClipDrop.
Audio transcription: Needs macOS 15.4+ with Apple Intelligence. It's using Apple's on-device models.
YouTube transcripts: Works everywhere but needs the extra install: pip install clipdrop[youtube]
Windows: Not yet. The clipboard APIs are completely different. It's on the list.
Linux: Also not yet, but probably sooner than Windows.

Common Issues and Fixes

"No content in clipboard" — You haven't copied anything. Seems obvious but happens to everyone.

"Cannot append to PDF" — PDFs aren't text files. Append only works with text-based formats.

"File exists" — Use -f to force overwrite or -a to append. Or pick a different name.

Audio transcription not working — Check your macOS version. Needs 15.4 or later. Also make sure you're copying the actual audio file from Finder, not just its name.

YouTube transcript fails — Some videos don't have transcripts. Also check you installed with [youtube] option.

Quick Command Reference

Because nobody memorizes man pages:

# Basics
clipdrop filename         # Save clipboard
clipdrop filename -a      # Append to file
clipdrop filename -p      # Preview first
clipdrop filename -f      # Force overwrite

# Sources
clipdrop -yt             # YouTube transcript
clipdrop --audio         # Force audio mode

# Security
clipdrop -s              # Scan for secrets
clipdrop --scan-mode redact  # Auto-redact secrets

# Filters
clipdrop --text-only     # Ignore images
clipdrop --image-only    # Ignore text

# Other
clipdrop --lang es       # Language for transcripts
clipdrop --version       # Version info
clipdrop --help          # Show help

Why We Built It This Way

A few people have asked why ClipDrop works the way it does, so here's the thinking:

Why command line? Because GUI apps for this already exist and they're all overcomplicated. The command line is perfect for "I want to save this thing right now" situations. No mouse needed.

Why Python? Honestly? Because it's everywhere and the clipboard libraries just work. We did write Swift code for the audio transcription part though, because that needed native macOS access.

Why local only? Your clipboard has sensitive stuff in it. Passwords, keys, personal notes. The last thing anyone needs is their clipboard contents hitting some random server. Everything stays on your machine.

Why not more features? We could add cloud sync, team sharing, AI summaries… but then it wouldn't be ClipDrop anymore. It'd be another bloated productivity app. The whole point is it does one thing really well.

Tips From Actual Daily Use

After using this thing constantly, here's what actually matters:

Make aliases. Seriously. alias cd='clipdrop' if you're feeling brave. At minimum do alias cda='clipdrop -a'.
Use append mode for everything ongoing. Meeting notes, daily tasks, research. Just keep appending. You can clean it up later.
Name files immediately. Don't do clipdrop temp. You'll end up with 47 temp files. Be specific.
Preview is your friend. When in doubt, -p flag. Especially late at night when you're not sure what you last copied.
Scan sensitive files. Always use -s for anything that might have secrets. The one time you don't...
YouTube transcripts for research. Seriously underrated feature. So much good content is in video form now.

What's Next

We're still actively developing ClipDrop. The immediate roadmap:

Windows support (yeah, we know)
Linux support (probably easier than Windows)
Browser extension (for web clipping)
Better code detection (distinguishing Python from JavaScript from whatever)

The dream features that may or may not happen:

Smart folders based on content type
Git integration for version-controlled notes
Plugin system so people can add their own processors

But honestly? The core thing — copy something, save it instantly — that's not changing. That's the whole point.

Just Try It

Look, I can explain features all day, but ClipDrop is one of those tools you need to use to get it. Install it, use it for a week. Set up an alias so it's just cd filename.

The moment you realize you haven't opened a save dialog in days, you'll get it.

And yeah, once you're hooked, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. That's not marketing speak — that's just what happens.

Welcome to the post-save-dialog era.

ClipDrop is open source. Find it at github.com/prateekjain24/clipdrop. Bug reports and "wouldn't it be cool if" suggestions welcome.