PeekPaste

Product Introduction

1. Definition: PeekPaste is a native macOS clipboard manager and productivity utility. It is a lightweight, menu bar-less application that runs as a background service, maintaining a local, searchable history of all copied content (clipboard items).
2. Core Value Proposition: PeekPaste exists to solve the fundamental limitation of the macOS clipboard, which only holds one item at a time. Its core value is providing instant, context-aware, and private access to your clipboard history through a unique screen-edge gesture, eliminating the friction of switching contexts or managing a separate application window.

Main Features

1. Screen-Edge Gesture Trigger: The primary interaction model. Users configure a preferred screen edge (left, right, top, or bottom) and a dwell delay. When the pointer is pushed and held against that edge, the PeekPaste panel slides into view. This allows for rapid, one-handed access without keyboard shortcuts or Dock interaction. It can be disabled in favor of a configurable global keyboard shortcut.
2. Intelligent, Typed Clip Rendering: Unlike basic text lists, PeekPaste uses macOS APIs to identify and render clips based on their native data type. This includes syntax-highlighted code snippets, link previews with titles and favicons, color swatches for hex/RGB values, thumbnail previews for images and files, and formatted text. Each clip is tagged with its source application icon.
3. On-Device Optical Character Recognition (OCR): For image clips (like screenshots), PeekPaste utilizes Apple's native Vision framework to perform OCR entirely on the user's Mac. This extracts text from images, making screenshots of error messages, receipts, or document excerpts fully searchable within the clipboard history without any data leaving the device.
4. Inline Spacebar Preview: Hovering over any clip and pressing the Spacebar triggers macOS' Quick Look functionality. This opens a full, non-destructive preview window. Code retains syntax highlighting, documents are rendered, and images are shown at full resolution, allowing for verification before pasting.
5. Privacy-First Architecture & Data Management: All clipboard history is stored exclusively in a local database on the user's Mac. The app has no analytics, telemetry, user accounts, or cloud sync. It respects macOS' confidential data flags (e.g., from password managers), can be configured to ignore specific applications, and offers granular retention policies (e.g., keep clips for a week, month, or indefinitely).

Problems Solved

1. Pain Point: The "single-item clipboard" problem, where copying new content overwrites the previous item, causing lost text, links, or data.
2. Pain Point: The workflow disruption caused by traditional clipboard managers that require window management, keyboard shortcut memorization, or constant menu bar interaction.
3. Pain Point: The inability to find previously copied content, especially non-text items like images, files, or colors, and the specific text contained within screenshot images.
4. Target Audience: Software developers, writers, researchers, designers, students, and any macOS power user who frequently copies and pastes multiple items between documents, applications, and communication tools.
5. Use Cases: A developer copying multiple error messages and code snippets while debugging; a researcher compiling data and quotes from various web pages; a designer collecting color hex codes and asset files; an office worker filling forms with repeated text and screenshots.

Unique Advantages

1. Differentiation vs. Competitors: Unlike menu-bar utilities (e.g., Maccy) or launcher-based managers (e.g., Raycast/Alfred clipboards), PeekPaste's edge-based gesture is spatially mappable and minimizes cognitive load. Versus subscription-based managers with cloud sync (e.g., PastePal, CopyClip), PeekPaste is a one-time purchase with a strict, offline-only privacy model.
2. Key Innovation: The contextual, zero-UI resting state. By hiding at the screen edge until intentionally invoked, PeekPaste achieves a "visible only when needed" paradigm that feels like a native macOS extension rather than a separate app. Combined with on-device OCR and typed rendering, it creates a seamless, intelligent layer over the standard system clipboard.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Is PeekPaste a subscription service? No, PeekPaste is a one-time purchase with a lifetime license. The $9.99 fee includes the current version and all future feature updates, with no recurring subscription costs.
2. Does PeekPaste upload my clipboard data to the cloud? Absolutely not. PeekPaste operates with a strict privacy-by-design philosophy. All clipboard history, including text recognized from screenshots via OCR, is processed and stored exclusively on your local Mac. No data is sent to external servers or analytics platforms.
3. How does the on-device OCR for screenshots work? PeekPaste uses Apple's built-in Vision framework, a local machine learning API, to analyze image clips. This all happens offline on your Mac's processor (Apple Silicon or Intel), ensuring the text within your screenshots remains private and searchable.
4. Can I use PeekPaste with a keyboard shortcut instead of the mouse gesture? Yes. While the screen-edge gesture is the signature feature, PeekPaste offers a fully configurable global keyboard shortcut. You can use the shortcut alone, or in combination with the edge trigger, based on your preference.
5. What macOS version is required, and is it native for Apple Silicon Macs? PeekPaste requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. It is a universal binary with a native arm64 build, ensuring optimal performance and efficiency on both Apple Silicon (M-series) and Intel-based Mac computers.