Context Clippings

Context Clippings captures selected text from the editor button, right-click menu, or Command Palette and saves it with its source and timestamp in a dated Markdown file at the root of the active workspace.

Use

1. Open a local file inside a trusted VS Code workspace.
2. Select the text you want to capture.
3. Capture the selection in any of these ways:
   • Click the clipboard-plus button in the editor title bar.
   • Right-click the selected text and choose Context Clippings: Capture Selection.
   • Run Context Clippings: Capture Selection from the Command Palette.

The editor button appears only while a non-empty selection is active in a local file.

Demo

Editor button

Select text to reveal the clipboard-plus button in the editor title bar.

Right-click menu

Right-click selected text and choose Context Clippings: Capture Selection.

Daily Markdown file

Each clipping is appended with its quote, workspace-relative citation, timestamp, and an empty Comment field.

The extension creates or appends to CLIPBOARD-YYYY-MM-DD.md at the workspace root. Each entry contains the selected quote, its workspace-relative citation, a local timestamp, and an empty Comment field for notes you add later:

**Quote:** Selected text
**Citation:** @test-story/example.md#L3-L7
**Timestamp:** 2026-07-16 10:30:00 -07:00
**Comment:**

Existing entries are preserved. The command rejects empty or oversized selections, files outside the workspace, non-file workspaces, symbolic-link capture targets, and untrusted workspaces.

Local VSIX installation

• Install: In VS Code, open Extensions, choose Views and More Actions…, select Install from VSIX…, and choose context-clippings-0.0.5.vsix.
• Update: Install the newer VSIX through the same command. Confirm the new version in the Extensions view, then reload VS Code if prompted.
• Uninstall: Find Context Clippings in the Extensions view, choose Uninstall, and reload VS Code if prompted.

Installing a VSIX makes local executable code available to the editor. Install only an artifact you trust and verify its checksum when one is supplied.

Scope and limitations

• Workspace Trust is required. The extension is disabled in Restricted Mode.
• The verified target is local macOS VS Code with file: workspace folders.
• Browser hosts, remote or virtual workspaces, Windows, Linux, and VS Code-compatible editor forks are unverified.
• The extension has no settings, keybinding, network access, telemetry, or publication/update channel.