Context Clipboard

A lightweight Windows clipboard manager that remembers what you copied, where it came from, and lets you instantly search your full copy history.

Context Clipboard runs silently in the system tray, captures every clipboard change with source context (app name, window title, timestamp, optional screenshot), and stores it in a local SQLite database with full-text search. Press Win+Shift+V (or Ctrl+Shift+V fallback) from anywhere to recall any past clip.

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Features

• Background monitoring silently tracks clipboard changes via Win32 APIs
• Context awareness stores source app, window title, timestamp, and optional screenshot
• Full-text search by content, app name, or window title with prefix matching
• Global hotkey summons the search window instantly with Win+Shift+V (will be Ctrl+Shift+V in case of error)
• System tray integration minimizes to tray, close from tray menu
• Auto-startup via registry toggle in Settings
• Screenshots of full-desktop on every copy
• Deduplication with SHA-256 hash prevents storing the same text twice

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Folder Structure

context_clipboard/
├── clipboard_service.py        # Background service: Win32 clipboard listener, DB, screenshots
├── clipboard_gui.py            # Tkinter GUI: search, settings, system tray icon
├── requirements.txt            # Python dependencies
├── build.bat                   # One-click PyInstaller build + desktop shortcut
├── installer/
│   └── ContextClipboard.nsi    # NSIS installer script (Windows setup wizard)
└── README.md                   # This file

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Setup & Installation

Method 1 - Download Pre-built Installer (Recommended)

1. Go to the GitHub Releases page.
2. Download the latest ContextClipboard-Setup-vX.X.X.exe.
3. Run the installer. It will install to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ContextClipboard and create:
   • A Start Menu shortcut
   • A Desktop shortcut
4. Launch Context Clipboard from the Start Menu or Desktop.
5. The app starts in the system tray. Right-click the tray icon to open Search or Exit.

Note: The installer is per-user and does not require Administrator privileges.

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Method 2 - Build from Source

Prerequisites: Python 3.12+, pip, and NSIS (optional, only if you want to build the installer).

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Arnav-Agrawal-987/context_clipboard.git
cd ContextClipboard

# 2. Create a virtual environment (recommended)
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

# 3. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 4. Build the executable + create a Desktop shortcut
.\build.bat

After build.bat finishes:

• The executable is at dist\ContextClipboard\ContextClipboard.exe
• A shortcut has been placed on your Desktop
• You can run the app directly from the Desktop shortcut or the dist folder

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Usage

Action	How
Open search	Win+Shift+V (global) or right-click tray icon → Open
Hide window	Click X to minimize to tray
Exit app	Right-click tray icon → Exit
Toggle screenshots	Settings → check Capture screenshots
Toggle auto-start	Settings → check Start with Windows
Search syntax	Hover over the ℹ️ icon beside the search bar

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