Paste Buffer

A VS Code extension that keeps a clipboard history and lets you paste previously copied text from a QuickPick list.

Features

• Clipboard history: Tracks text you copy, including copies made outside VS Code
• History picker: Press Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on macOS) to open a picker listing your history, most recent first
• Cycle through history: Press the keybinding again while the picker is open to move to the next item
• Works in inputs too: The commands work in the editor and in other text inputs such as the find and search boxes
• In-memory storage: History is kept in RAM and is not persisted between sessions

Usage

1. Copy text as you normally do
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on macOS) to open the history picker
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+V again to cycle through items, or use the arrow keys or type to filter
4. Press Enter to paste the highlighted item at the cursor

Commands and Keybindings

While the picker is open, Ctrl+C is not overridden, so it behaves normally in the picker's own text box.

How It Works

• The clipboard is polled every pasteBuffer.refreshRateMs (default 250 ms), and any new text is added to the history
• Paste Buffer: Copy runs the normal copy action and records the result explicitly, so re-copying identical text moves it back to the top
• Duplicate entries are merged and moved to the top of the list
• Selecting an item writes it to the clipboard and runs the standard paste action

Limitations

• History is stored only in RAM and is lost when VS Code closes
• Only text is tracked (not rich text or files)
• History holds at most pasteBuffer.historyLimit items (default 50); the oldest are discarded
• Not active in the integrated terminal

Extension Settings

Set these in your user settings.json:

{
  "pasteBuffer.historyLimit": 100,
  "pasteBuffer.refreshRateMs": 500
}

Changes take effect immediately, with no reload needed.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or later

Building

npm install
npm run compile
npm run package

npm run package produces paste-buffer-<version>.vsix. Install it with code --install-extension paste-buffer-0.1.0.vsix or Extensions: Install from VSIX....

Release Notes

0.1.0

• Initial release
• Clipboard history tracking
• QuickPick picker with cycling support