Smart Clipboard History Manager

Never lose what you copied again! Smart Clipboard History automatically tracks everything you copy and lets you access it instantly. Perfect for developers who copy/paste code, URLs, commands, and text dozens of times per day.

🎯 Why You Need This

VS Code's native clipboard only remembers ONE item. Ever copied something, then copied something else, and needed the first thing again? Problem solved.

✨ Key Features

• 📋 Automatic Tracking - Captures everything you copy (up to 50 items)
• 📌 Pin Important Items - Keep frequently used snippets at the top
• 🔍 Instant Search - Fuzzy search through your entire clipboard history (Ctrl+Shift+V)
• 🎨 Smart Categorization - Automatically detects Code, JSON, URLs, Numbers, Text
• ⏱️ Time Tracking - See when you copied each item (2m ago, 1h ago, etc.)
• 💾 Persistent Storage - History survives VS Code restarts
• 🚀 One-Click Paste - Click any item to paste at cursor
• 🗑️ Easy Management - Delete individual items or clear all at once
• 📊 Status Bar Counter - See how many items in your history at a glance

🔥 Special Features (What Makes This Extension Unique!)

• ✨ Auto-Format JSON - Right-click any JSON item to beautify and paste formatted JSON
• 🔓 Decode Base64 - Instantly decode base64 strings with one click
• 📊 Usage Statistics - View detailed stats about your clipboard usage, most copied items, and more
• 🧹 Merge Duplicates - Automatically find and remove duplicate entries to keep history clean
• 🎯 Smart Context Menus - Different actions appear based on content type

📸 How It Works

Clipboard Panel

📋 Clipboard History (15)

📌 Pinned (2)
  └─ function debounce(fn, delay) { ... }
     Code • 2d ago
  └─ https://api.example.com/v1/users
     URL • 1d ago

🕐 Recent (13)
  └─ const result = await fetch(url)
     Code • 5m ago
  └─ {"name": "John", "age": 30}
     JSON • 12m ago
  └─ Fix authentication bug in login
     Text • 1h ago

Quick Actions

• Click - Paste immediately
• Pin icon (📌) - Keep item at top
• Trash icon (🗑️) - Delete item
• Right-click - More options

🚀 Installation

From VSIX:

1. Download the .vsix file
2. Open VS Code
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+P → "Install from VSIX"
4. Select the file

From Marketplace:

Search for "Smart Clipboard History Manager" in Extensions

📖 Usage

Getting Started

1. Open the panel: Click the 📋 clipboard icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
2. Copy anything: The extension automatically tracks it
3. Access your history: Click any item to paste it

Keyboard Shortcuts

Smart Type Detection

The extension automatically categorizes your clipboard items:

• Code - Contains brackets, keywords like function, const, etc.
• JSON - Valid JSON format
• URL - Starts with http:// or https://
• Number - Pure numeric values
• Text - Everything else

Pinning Items

Pin frequently used items to keep them accessible:

1. Hover over any item
2. Click the pin icon (📌)
3. Pinned items stay at the top and won't be cleared

Perfect for:

• API endpoints you test frequently
• Code snippets you reuse
• Commands you run often
• Boilerplate text

🎯 Use Cases

For API Developers (🔥 Special Features!)

// Copy messy JSON response
{"name":"John","age":30,"address":{"city":"NYC","zip":"10001"}}

// Right-click → "Format JSON & Paste" → Get this:
{
  "name": "John",
  "age": 30,
  "address": {
    "city": "NYC",
    "zip": "10001"
  }
}

// Copy base64 JWT token
eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

// Right-click → "Decode Base64 & Paste" → Instant decode!

View Your Productivity Stats

Click "View Statistics" to see:

📊 Clipboard Statistics

Total Items: 45
Pinned: 3
Recent: 42

📋 By Type:
  • Code: 25
  • JSON: 12
  • URL: 5
  • Text: 3

📏 Average Size: 156 characters

🔥 Most Copied:
  • const API_URL = 'https://api...' (8x)
  • console.log(data) (6x)
  • npm install (4x)

For Developers

// Copy this once, use it everywhere
const API_KEY = '<YOUR_API_KEY>';

// Pin your most-used imports
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

// Keep debugging commands handy
console.log(JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));

For API Testing

Pin your API endpoints:
- https://api.example.com/v1/users
- https://api.example.com/v1/products
- https://api.example.com/v1/orders

Pin auth tokens for testing

For Documentation

Pin code examples:
- Installation commands
- Configuration snippets  
- Example responses

⚙️ Commands

🔧 Tips & Tricks

1. Use JSON Formatter for API Work

// Copy API response → Right-click → "Format JSON & Paste"
// Instantly get beautiful, readable JSON!
// No more going to jsonformatter.org

2. Decode Base64 Tokens on the Fly

// Copy JWT or encoded string
// Right-click → "Decode Base64 & Paste"
// See the decoded content immediately

3. Check Your Stats for Insights

// Click "View Statistics" to discover:
// - What you copy most often
// - Your productivity patterns
// - Content type distribution

4. Clean Up with Merge Duplicates

// Copied the same API endpoint 10 times?
// Click "Merge Duplicates" to clean it up
// Keeps only the most recent version

5. Pin Your Most Used Code

Create a collection of frequently used snippets:

// Pin these for quick access
try { ... } catch (error) { ... }
Array.from({ length: n }, (_, i) => i)
new Date().toISOString()

2. API Development Workflow

1. Pin your base URLs
2. Pin authentication headers
3. Pin common request bodies
4. Quick paste and modify

3. Clean Up Regularly

• Use "Clear Unpinned Items" to remove temporary copies
• Keep your pinned collection lean (5-10 items)
• Delete sensitive data after use

6. Search Like a Pro

Press Ctrl+Shift+V and type keywords:

• "fetch" - Find all fetch calls
• "http" - Find all URLs
• "TODO" - Find all TODO comments

📊 Statistics

Track your productivity:

• Status bar shows total items: 📋 15
• History section shows count: Recent (13)
• Time stamps show recency: 5m ago, 2h ago, 3d ago

🔒 Privacy & Security

• ✅ All data stored locally (never sent anywhere)
• ✅ No external connections
• ✅ Clear history anytime with one click
• ⚠️ Important: Clear clipboard after copying sensitive data (passwords, API keys, tokens)

🐛 Known Limitations

• Maximum 50 items in history (oldest items are removed)
• Binary/image data not supported (text only)
• Clipboard monitoring uses polling (500ms interval)

🛠️ Development

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/ibrahimpelumi6142/smart-clipboard-history.git
cd smart-clipboard-history
npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package

Testing

1. Open in VS Code
2. Press F5 to launch Extension Development Host
3. Test all features

📝 Changelog

Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release

• Automatic clipboard tracking (50 items max)
• Pin/unpin functionality
• Smart type detection (Code, JSON, URL, Number, Text)
• Search with fuzzy matching (Ctrl+Shift+V)
• Persistent storage across sessions
• Status bar indicator with item count
• Time tracking with relative timestamps (2m ago, 1h ago)
• One-click paste functionality
• Delete individual items
• Clear all/clear unpinned options

🔥 Special Features (v1.0.0)

• Auto-Format JSON - Beautify JSON with one click
• Decode Base64 - Instant base64 decoding
• Usage Statistics - Detailed clipboard analytics
• Merge Duplicates - Smart duplicate detection and removal
• Smart Context Menus - Type-specific actions

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a Pull Request

💡 Feature Requests

Want to see a feature? Open an issue on GitHub with:

• Clear description
• Use case
• Example workflow

📄 License

MIT License - Use freely!

🙏 Support

If this extension saves you time:

• ⭐ Star on GitHub
• 📝 Leave a review on Marketplace
• 🐛 Report bugs or suggest features
• ☕ Buy me a coffee

📞 Contact

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Email: ibrahimpelumi6142@gmail.com

Made with ❤️ for developers who hate losing what they copied

Pro tip: Press Ctrl+Shift+V right now and see your clipboard history!