A Linux Clipboard

A modern Linux clipboard companion with a GTK4 popover UI, emoji picker, and instant auto-paste, built in Rust and inspired by Windows 11’s clipboard panel.

Overview

Super V runs as a background daemon that watches your clipboard, keeps a searchable history of text and images, and exposes the data to a polished GUI. When you pick an entry (or an emoji), the app updates the system clipboard and simulates Shift+Insert through ydotool so the content lands right where you were typing.

Features

• GTK4 UI with clipboard and emoji tabs, animated reveals, and dark styling.
• Instant auto-paste using ydotool (Shift+Insert) after selecting an entry.
• Emoji picker with live search and thousands of glyphs.
• Text + image history (25 most recent entries) with duplicate promotion and per-item delete.
• IPC layer over a Unix socket so other programs can control the daemon.
• Single-instance daemon enforced with a lock file and automatic cleanup.
• Tested core with integration tests for the manager, IPC layer, and history logic.

Architecture

• Daemon (src/services/clipboard_manager.rs): polls the system clipboard, manages history, and listens for commands. Threads communicate through Arc<Mutex<_>> and an atomic stop signal.
• IPC server (src/services/clipboard_ipc_server.rs): MessagePack-encoded Unix socket protocol supporting Snapshot, Promote, Delete, DeleteThis, Clear, and Stop.
• GUI (src/gui/clipboard_gui.rs): GTK4 application that renders the clipboard list, emoji grid, and per-item actions. Uses the IPC layer to stay in sync and ydotool to auto-paste.
• Common types (src/common.rs): shared error types, constants, and the ClipboardItem enum used throughout the project.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Linux with systemd (Wayland or X11/XWayland).
• Rust toolchain (stable) and build essentials (git, cmake, make, etc.).
• Ability to run privileged commands once (the installer needs sudo for ydotool).

Quick install

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

install.sh will:

• Build a release binary and strip it.
• Install super_v into /usr/local/bin.
• Fetch, build, and install ydotool if it is missing, then register ydotoold as a system service.
• Write the user unit file at ~/.config/systemd/user/super_v.service.
• Create /var/log/superv.log, adjust ownership, and enable lingering so the user service survives logouts.
• Reload both system and user systemd daemons and start the clipboard daemon plus ydotoold.

To update, rerun the installer. It rebuilds and redeploys everything.

Uninstall

chmod +x uninstall.sh
./uninstall.sh

The script stops the user unit, tears down lingering, removes binaries and unit files, cleans the ydotool install, and deletes log files.

Usage

• super_v start – launch the daemon (normally handled by systemd).
• super_v open-gui – open the clipboard window wherever you invoke it.
• super_v clean – clear stale socket/lock files if the daemon crashed.

GUI workflow

• Clipboard tab: click any row to copy it back into the system clipboard and auto-paste. Use the trash icon to delete an entry or the header button to clear everything with an animated wipe.
• Emoji tab: type to filter by emoji name, click to copy+paste immediately, and the history records the emoji so it is available in the clipboard tab too.

Service management

Note: Auto handled by install.sh

systemctl --user status super_v.service
systemctl --user restart super_v.service
sudo systemctl status ydotoold.service

Logs live in /var/log/superv.log.

IPC API

SOCKET_PATH is /tmp/super_v.sock. Clients talk MessagePack using the Payload enum.

use super_v::services::clipboard_ipc_server::{
create_default_stream, send_payload, read_payload,
Payload, IPCRequest, CmdIPC,
};

fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
let mut stream = create_default_stream()?;
send_payload(&mut stream, Payload::Request(IPCRequest { cmd: CmdIPC::Snapshot }));

if let Payload::Response(resp) = read_payload(&mut stream) {
if let Some(history) = resp.history_snapshot {
println!("{} items", history.get_items().len());
} else if let Some(msg) = resp.message {
eprintln!("daemon replied: {msg}");
}
}
Ok(())
}

Supported commands:

• Snapshot – return the current history.
• Promote(usize) – move the entry at index to the top.
• Delete(usize) – remove by index (as displayed in the GUI).
• DeleteThis(ClipboardItem) – remove a specific entry by value.
• Clear – wipe the history.
• Stop – request the daemon to shut down gracefully.

Development

src/
├── main.rs                     # CLI entry point
├── lib.rs                      # Module glue
├── common.rs                   # Shared constants, errors, clipboard item types
├── history.rs                  # History ring buffer implementation
├── services/
│   ├── clipboard_manager.rs    # Daemon orchestration
│   ├── clipboard_ipc_server.rs # Unix socket + MessagePack protocol
│   └── ydotol.rs               # ydotool integration (Shift+Insert)
└── gui/
├── clipboard_gui.rs         # GTK4 application
└── style.css                # UI styling
tests/
├── history_test.rs
├── ipc_test.rs
└── manager_test.rs

Run the suite with cargo test. The integration tests are marked #[serial] because they exercise the singleton daemon + socket.

Contributing

Pull requests, bug reports, and feature ideas are welcome:

1. Fork the repo and create a feature branch.
2. cargo fmt and cargo clippy --all-targets if you touch Rust code.
3. cargo test to ensure the suite stays green.
4. Describe user-visible changes (especially anything GUI/IPC related) in the PR body.

Ideas that would help a ton:

• Replace unwrap() hotspots with surfaced errors.
• Enhanced tests + more coverage.
• Persist history across restarts.
• Extend format support (rich text, HTML fragments, etc.).
• Extended Emojis (ASCII?)
• Polish the GTK layout for different DPI/scale factors.
• GUI Hiccups/Stutters + More animations.
• Package for your distro of choice.