Paste Mem — Clipboard History for VS Code
Stop juggling between files just to copy and paste. Paste Mem remembers everything you copy so you can paste any previous item whenever you need it.
Features
Clipboard History Tracking
Every time you copy or cut text inside VS Code, Paste automatically saves it to an in-memory history. No manual steps required — just keep working as you normally do.
Quick Pick Paste
Press Cmd+Shift+V (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows/Linux) to open the clipboard history picker. Each entry shows:
- Source filename — know exactly where you copied it from
- Text preview — see a snippet of the copied content
- Timestamp — how long ago it was copied
Type to search and filter through your history by filename or text content.
Multi-Cursor Support
Paste works with multiple cursors. Select an item from history and it gets inserted at every cursor position. If you have text selected, it replaces all selections.
Smart Deduplication
Copy the same text twice? Paste moves it to the top of the list instead of creating a duplicate entry. This keeps your history clean and easy to navigate.
Cut Tracking
Both copy and cut operations are tracked. Cut items are labeled with a scissors icon in the picker so you can tell them apart.
Configurable
Tune the extension to your workflow through VS Code settings.
Commands
| Command |
Description |
Paste: Paste from Clipboard History |
Open the history picker and paste a selected item |
Paste: Clear Clipboard History |
Clear all clipboard history |
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Command |
Cmd+Shift+V (macOS) |
Paste from Clipboard History |
Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows/Linux) |
Paste from Clipboard History |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
paste.maxHistorySize |
50 |
Maximum number of items to keep in history (1–500) |
paste.previewLength |
80 |
Character length of text preview in the picker (20–300) |
paste.avoidDuplicates |
true |
Move duplicate copies to top instead of creating new entries |
paste.maxItemSizeBytes |
1000000 |
Skip clipboard items larger than this size in bytes |
How It Works
- Copy or cut text from any file in VS Code
- Paste stores the text along with the source filename and timestamp
- When you need to paste, press
Cmd+Shift+V / Ctrl+Shift+V
- Browse or search through your history
- Select an item and it gets pasted at your cursor
Known Limitations
- Clipboard history is in-memory only and resets when VS Code restarts. This is intentional for security — clipboard data can contain sensitive information.
- Only captures copies/cuts made inside VS Code editors. Text copied from the terminal panel, browser, or other apps is not tracked.
- The keybinding
Cmd+Shift+V / Ctrl+Shift+V may conflict with "Paste without formatting" in some contexts. You can rebind it in VS Code's keyboard shortcuts settings.
