Clipshelf CLI

ClipShelf CLI Skill

Use the clipshelf CLI to interact with the ClipShelf clipboard manager from the terminal. The CLI shares the same SQLite database as the macOS GUI app, so changes are reflected in both.

Prerequisites

The clipshelf binary must be available on $PATH. Install via Homebrew:

brew tap crossoverJie/homebrew-tap
brew install crossoverjie/tap/clipshelf

Verify:

clipshelf --help

If the binary is not found, inform the user and stop — do not attempt alternative access methods.

Command Reference

Read Operations

Fetch recent items

clipshelf recent [--limit N] [--output json|ndjson|text]

• Default limit: 10
• Default output: json
• Use --output text when you only need plain text content
• Use --output ndjson for streaming / large result sets

Query by tag or text

clipshelf query [--tag TAG ...] [--match-any-tag] [--text "substring"] [--limit N] [--output json|ndjson|text]

• Multiple --tag values use AND semantics by default
• Add --match-any-tag to switch to OR semantics
• --text performs case-insensitive substring matching

Get a single item by ID

clipshelf get <uuid> [--output json|ndjson|text]

Write Operations

Add a text item

# From argument
clipshelf add --text "content" [--tags TAG ...] [--print-id]

# From stdin (pipe-friendly)
echo "content" | clipshelf add --stdin [--tags TAG ...] [--print-id]

• Either --text or --stdin is required (mutually exclusive)
• --tags accepts multiple values: --tags work --tags important
• --print-id outputs only the UUID of the created item (useful for scripting)

Delete an item

clipshelf delete <uuid>

Tag Management

# List all tags
clipshelf tags list [--output json|ndjson|text]

# Create a tag
clipshelf tags create <name> [--color #808080]

Output Formats

JSON envelope structure (default)

{
  "schemaVersion": "1",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "uuid-string",
      "contentType": "text",
      "textContent": "...",
      "createdAt": "ISO-8601",
      "tags": ["tag1"],
      "isPinned": false
    }
  ]
}

Error Handling

Errors are written to stderr as structured JSON. Check exit codes:

Always check the exit code when running CLI commands. On non-zero exit, read stderr for the error message and report it to the user.

Common Patterns

Search for specific content

clipshelf query --text "keyword" --limit 20

Get all items with a tag

clipshelf query --tag work --limit 100

Save output for later processing

clipshelf recent --limit 50 --output ndjson > /tmp/shelf_export.ndjson

Add multi-line content from a file

cat notes.txt | clipshelf add --stdin --tags notes

Add an item and capture its ID

ITEM_ID=$(clipshelf add --text "hello" --print-id)
echo "Created: $ITEM_ID"

Combine with jq for filtering

clipshelf recent --limit 100 | jq '.data[] | select(.isPinned == true) | .textContent'

Guidelines

1. Default to JSON output — it provides the most context (IDs, tags, timestamps). Use --output text only when the user explicitly wants plain content.
2. Respect limits — always set --limit to a reasonable value. Don't fetch thousands of items unless the user asks.
3. Use --print-id when scripting — if you need the created item's ID for follow-up operations, use --print-id instead of parsing full JSON output.
4. Prefer --stdin for long content — for multi-line or large text, pipe via stdin rather than passing --text with embedded newlines.
5. Check exit codes — always verify the command succeeded before acting on the output.
6. Don't modify data without confirmation — before deleting items or creating tags, confirm with the user what will be changed.
7. Same database as the GUI app — items added/deleted via CLI are immediately visible in the macOS app and vice versa.