- Our own product
- macOS
- Open source
ClipShot
A screenshot is on the clipboard the moment macOS saves it, and the file stays.
Project facts
- Platform
- macOS 26 Tahoe · Apple silicon and Intel
- Signing
- Developer ID + Apple notarisation
- Languages
- SK · EN · CS · DE · ES · FR
- Distribution
- Homebrew · GitHub · automatic updates
- Swift 6
- SwiftUI
- AppKit
- AppIntents
- Sparkle
- Swift Testing
- XcodeGen
- Homebrew
The brief
ClipShot is a macOS app that puts every screenshot on the clipboard the moment macOS saves it, and leaves the file where it is. Press ⇧⌘4, then ⌘V. Its own floating preview offers Markup, a drag into another app or the Trash, and it can clean up old screenshots when asked to. We designed it and release it as open source, signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarised by Apple, in six languages.
ClipShot is a macOS screenshot app we built because macOS either saves a screenshot as a file or copies it to the clipboard, but never both. With the floating thumbnail on, the file only appears once the thumbnail goes away, about six seconds later, so a screenshot could not be pasted into a chat straight away. Until then a small script did the job, but it waited for the thumbnail like everything else and let old screenshots pile up. ClipShot is that script done properly. We use it ourselves, and it is published as open source.
What we did
The screenshot is on the clipboard before you switch windows
⇧⌘3, ⇧⌘4 and ⇧⌘5 work as always, and the image is on the clipboard the moment macOS saves the file. It goes on the clipboard as an image, not as a file, so chat apps, Mail and browsers paste the picture itself rather than an attachment. The file stays in the screenshot folder. The folder and the preview are set in the app, without Terminal, and one button puts back the macOS settings you had before.
Its own preview instead of waiting for the thumbnail
While the macOS floating thumbnail is on screen, the system holds the file back and saves it only when the thumbnail goes away. So a copy can be instant, or it can wait for the thumbnail, but not both. ClipShot therefore shows its own preview: a click opens the screenshot in Markup and copies the edited image again, a drag drops it into another app, and a swipe to the right dismisses it. Anyone who prefers the macOS thumbnail can pick it in Settings, and the copy then waits.
It cleans up only what is its own
It can move screenshots older than a period you choose to the Trash, but until you turn that on it does nothing. It touches only screenshots it saw being taken, and only in the folder you confirmed. It recognises a screenshot by the marker macOS gives it, not by its name, and a renamed screenshot is left alone. Nothing is ever deleted: everything goes to the Trash, and a move from the menu or the preview can be undone for a few seconds.
It fits into automation too
Actions for Shortcuts, Siri and Spotlight get the latest screenshot, copy it, pause copying or clean up old screenshots. A Focus filter pauses copying while that Focus is on. The command line tool's clipshot latest prints the path of the screenshot you just took, so one command hands it to a script or an AI coding assistant.
Delivered as a finished product
Six languages including Slovak and Czech, a Developer ID signature, Apple notarisation and automatic updates with a verified signature; a copy installed with Homebrew is updated by Homebrew. Each release is built and checked by a script that verifies the signature, the notarisation and the contents of the package, and after publishing checks the file downloaded back from GitHub the same way. More than 500 automated tests guard what gets copied and what may go to the Trash.
What does this mean for your project?
ClipShot solves a small thing that happens dozens of times a day: a screenshot that is not where you expect it. Most of the work was not in the copying itself but in the limits: what the app must never touch when it cleans up, how it tells a real screenshot from any other file, and how to get back to the system settings you had before. We approach client apps the same way. When a tool reaches into files, data or settings, we first name what it must not break, and only then add features. If a repeated manual step between two apps slows your company down, we are happy to look at whether it can go.
Installation and links
brew install --cask m-moravcik/clipshot/clipshot
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