macos-pasteboard

Native macOS pasteboard (clipboard) access for Node.js using N-API.

• Supports alternative pasteboards, e.g. the "find" pasteboard.
• Simple JS API; no app/window required.
• Works similarly to pbcopy/pbpaste for text.

Note: This package only targets macOS.

Install

npm install
npm run build

Requirements: Xcode command line tools and Python for node-gyp.

Usage

const pb = require('macos-pasteboard');

// General pasteboard (default)
pb.writeText('Hello from Node!');
console.log(pb.readText()); // => 'Hello from Node!'

// Alternative pasteboard: "find"
pb.writeText('search-term', 'find');
console.log(pb.readText('find')); // => 'search-term'

// Inspect types and state
console.log(pb.hasText()); // => true/false
console.log(pb.types());   // => array of UTI/type identifiers

// Known pasteboards (friendly names -> underlying system names)
console.log(pb.knownPasteboards());

API

• readText(pboard?) => string | null
• writeText(text, pboard?) => boolean
• clear(pboard?) => boolean
• hasText(pboard?) => boolean
• types(pboard?) => string[]
• knownPasteboards() => { general, find, font, ruler, drag }

pboard can be one of: general (default), find, font, ruler, drag, or a custom named pasteboard.

CLI parity with pbcopy/pbpaste

This library intentionally focuses on a JS API. If you need a CLI, you can create a tiny wrapper using these APIs, or continue using pbcopy/pbpaste with the -pboard flag.

Notes

• On recent macOS versions, reading the pasteboard may be subject to privacy prompts or app permissions.
• The module uses Objective‑C++ and links against AppKit.

License

MIT