Panel · Local history

Clipboard

Clipboard keeps a searchable history of text copied on your Mac. You decide whether an item stays local, is attached to one chat turn, or is deliberately saved to long-term memory.

⌕ Searchable

Find text by its contents or the app it came from.

↗ Use once

Attach an item as temporary context for your next chat turn.

◆ Remember

Explicitly promote useful text into durable memory.

⌁ Local history

History is stored on this device rather than team-synced.

Open it with /clipboard. Native clipboard collection is currently a macOS feature.

What it captures#

When Collect history is on, Zimac watches the macOS pasteboard for copied text. An entry includes the text, time, source application when available, and how often the same content was copied. Re-copying identical text resurfaces the existing entry instead of creating a stack of duplicates.

Collection is text-only. Each entry is capped at 100,000 characters. Clipboard history is written to the local Zimac data store and is not a shared team feed.

Collection is not model context by default. Browsing or retaining an item in this panel does not automatically send its text to the selected model.

Find & organize#

Search performs a local case-insensitive substring match over copied text and source app. Pinned items stay at the top. Each entry offers actions appropriate to its content:

Copy places the text back on the system clipboard.
Use in chat stages it as context for the next message.
Remember saves it to the memory system for later recall.
Pin exempts an entry from normal age and count cleanup; unpin restores ordinary retention.
Open is available when the entry is a URL.
Delete removes that entry from history.

Use in chat vs Remember#

Action	What happens	Best for
Use in chat	The text becomes temporary context for the next turn, then the staged attachment is consumed.	A stack trace, draft paragraph, or link you want help with now
Remember	The text is promoted into durable memory and can be semantically recalled later.	A stable fact, preference, decision, or reusable piece of context
Copy	The text returns to the macOS clipboard; it is not added to model context.	Reusing the item in another application

Remember is a meaningful boundary. Memory processing can use the configured embedding route when available, so do not promote private clipboard content unless it belongs in durable AI context.

Smart hints#

When Smart hints is on, Zimac recognizes a small set of fresh text patterns—such as stack traces, pull-request links, and meeting links—and can surface a relevant Quick Ask. Detection is deterministic and does not call a model just to classify the clipboard item.

Hints are suggestions, not automatic actions. They do not open a link, join a meeting, run code, or submit the clipboard text on their own. Turn the setting off if you prefer a passive history.

Retention & deletion#

Unpinned entries are retained for 90 days and the history keeps at most 500 unpinned items. Cleanup removes the oldest ordinary entries first. Pinned entries are exempt from both limits.

Turn off Collect history to stop adding new copies. Existing history remains until you remove it.
Delete removes one entry.
Clear removes unpinned history while preserving pinned items.
To fully clear the panel, unpin anything you no longer need, then clear or delete it.

Deleting clipboard history does not automatically delete a separate memory previously created with Remember; manage that from Memory.

Privacy boundary#

Zimac skips pasteboard entries that password managers mark as concealed or transient. It also suppresses and briefly purges setup secrets pasted into Zimac’s own first-party credential forms.

Clipboard is not a secrets vault. macOS applications do not all mark sensitive text consistently. An API key, password, medical detail, or customer record copied as ordinary text can enter history. Keep collection off when handling sensitive material, and inspect or clear history afterward.

Local storage protects clipboard history at rest according to Zimac’s local data layer. Text leaves this local history boundary only when you take an action that supplies it to another system—for example, Use in chat, Remember, opening a URL, or pasting it elsewhere.

Limits#

Native automatic collection currently works on macOS. Windows does not yet have an equivalent native watcher, and the panel is not a cross-device clipboard.
Images, files, rich formatting, and arbitrary pasteboard object types are not stored as history items.
Source-app attribution depends on what macOS exposes and may be missing or approximate.
Secret suppression covers marked password-manager types and Zimac’s own setup flow, not every possible sensitive string.
Smart hints recognize a finite set of patterns; they are not comprehensive content understanding or security scanning.