Why employees want Klip
Clipboard work is invisible until it breaks. Someone copies an address, then overwrites it, then wastes five minutes hunting it down. Or they keep the same strings in Notes, Stickies, or a Slack DM to themselves because the clipboard only remembers one thing.
Less context switching
Press ⇧⌘V and paste anything from the last hour—or pin the phrases they use every day. Support, sales, engineering and operations all copy in bursts.
No new vendor contract
Klip is free, with no subscription, no account and no Klip servers. Approval is about security and policy, not procurement.
Native Mac software
Built for macOS with Apple’s design language. Signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple—Gatekeeper reports “Notarized Developer ID.”
Direct line to the developer
Questions about architecture, settings or updates go to the person who built Klip—no ticket queue through a third-party vendor.
The case for IT: Klip reduces an existing risk
Without a clipboard manager, people still keep reusable values somewhere: Notes, Stickies, text files on the Desktop, Slack messages to themselves, browser tabs. Those places often sync to third-party clouds, do not expire, and never filter secrets.
With the configuration below, Klip keeps the same kinds of values on the local Mac, prunes old clips automatically, refuses to store credentials, and can hide its UI during screen sharing. Nothing is sent to a Klip backend—there isn’t one.
Summary for security review: Klip keeps a local clipboard history. In the recommended setup, nothing leaves the Mac except optional update checks and link previews (both can be off). Secrets are filtered before they are saved. Deleted data can be securely overwritten. It replaces riskier habits that already happen today.
1. Data never leaves the Mac
- Storage: history lives in the user’s Application Support folder. On a FileVault-encrypted Mac it is encrypted at rest and only readable by that user account (Klip does not add a separate encryption layer on top of FileVault).
- No accounts or servers: no Klip account, Klip server or analytics service in the app.
- iCloud sync (optional): sync uses Apple’s CloudKit and the user’s private iCloud database. For business Macs, keep it off.
- Other network requests (both can be disabled): an update check that downloads a small version file from getklip.me; link previews, which fetch a copied link’s title and image.
2. Credentials stay out of the history
Never saved:
- Copies from Apple Passwords and Keychain Access.
- Copies from browsers’ built-in password manager pages.
- Copies that password managers mark as concealed or transient, including 1Password.
Secret filter: “Don’t Save API Keys and Tokens” skips any copy containing GitHub, GitLab, AWS, Slack, OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, Google or npm keys and tokens; Slack webhook URLs; JWTs; PEM or PGP private keys.
Automatic copies: copies an app makes by itself, such as copy-on-select in terminals, are not saved by default.
Ignored apps: copies from any app IT designates can be blocked completely.
3. Retention and deletion
- Automatic removal: history is pruned after a day, a week or a month; users can clear it anytime.
- Secure erase: when on, deleted clips’ text and images are overwritten so they cannot be recovered from the disk.
4. No leaks while presenting
With “Show During Screen Sharing” turned off, Klip’s windows are hidden from screen shares and recordings—history cannot appear by accident on a customer call.
5. Trusted distribution
- Signed and notarized: Apple Developer ID (team 2QJBT9C4Q7), notarized by Apple.
- Installation: DMG from this site or Homebrew (
brew install --cask ronier83/tap/klip); checksum published for each release on What’s New.
Signing identity for MDM: use these values to verify a download (codesign -dv, spctl -a -vv) or to pre-approve Klip’s Accessibility access with a Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC) profile in Jamf, Kandji, Intune or another MDM.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Bundle ID | com.ronerez.Klip |
| Team ID | 2QJBT9C4Q7 |
| Signed by | Developer ID Application: Ron Erez (2QJBT9C4Q7) |
| Code requirement | anchor apple generic and identifier "com.ronerez.Klip" and (certificate leaf[field.1.2.840.113635.100.6.1.9] /* exists */ or certificate 1[field.1.2.840.113635.100.6.2.6] /* exists */ and certificate leaf[field.1.2.840.113635.100.6.1.13] /* exists */ and certificate leaf[subject.OU] = "2QJBT9C4Q7") |
The requirement matches any Klip release signed with this Team ID, so a PPPC profile keeps working across updates. To check it yourself, run codesign -dr - /Applications/Klip.app.
Known risks and how they are handled
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| iCloud sync is on by default | Turned off in the recommended config; could be enforced with a configuration profile (profile enforcement still needs validation before first launch). |
| API-key filter and secure erase are off by default | Both turned on in the recommended config. |
| Not sandboxed; needs Accessibility to paste | Standard for clipboard managers; app is signed and notarized; developer available for review. |
| Single developer, no vendor support contract | Developer is reachable for technical and security questions directly. |
Required configuration
Domain: com.ronerez.Klip
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
iCloudSync | NO |
skipSecrets | YES |
secureErase | YES |
showDuringScreenSharing | NO |
linkPreviews | NO |
historyCapacity | 1 (one week) |
ignoredApps | Passwords, Keychain Access, plus any internal tools IT designates |
Request to IT: approve Klip 1.70 on employee Macs with the configuration above.
Download full security review (PDF)
The printable PDF matches this page. Configuration-profile enforcement has not been fully tested yet—if you rely on a profile, deploy it before users’ first launch of Klip so iCloud sync cannot start enabled.
Share knowledge across your team
Once Klip is approved, teams can share the snippets they use every day (SQL queries, setup commands, runbook links, approved replies) as pinboards. A pinboard exports to a small .klip file that travels through the tools you already use: Slack, Teams, email, a shared drive or Git. There’s no server and no account. Teammates import the file, and importing an updated version adds what’s new without duplicating anything.
Onboard engineers faster
One Eng · Onboarding file gives a new hire every command, query and link the team relies on, searchable from ⇧⌘V on day one.
Safe to update
Clips are matched by ID and content, and the newer name and keywords win. Import never deletes a clip and asks before unpinning anything.
Team collaboration guide: how export and import work, what happens on each import, how to maintain a shared pinboard, and an onboarding playbook with SQL examples.
More detail
Employee-facing features and privacy practices: Security on the homepage and the Privacy Policy. Product help: Help guide. Contact: Email support.