CoBox

A small, keyboard-first clipboard history for Windows.

Website: https://erfjab.github.io/CoBox/

• Saves everything you copy: text, code, links, images, videos, PDFs, audio and files.
• Keeps your history until you delete it.
• Runs in the background and starts with Windows.
• Uses almost no CPU while idle.

Install

In PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/erfjab/CoBox/master/install.ps1 | iex

The same command installs CoBox the first time and updates it later. It only replaces the program: your history and settings are never touched. If the download fails, the installed version is left as it was.

Build from source

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11
• Rust with the MSVC toolchain
• Windows 10/11 SDK (install it with the Visual Studio Build Tools)

Build and install

Open PowerShell in the project folder and run:

cargo build --profile dist
taskkill /im cobox.exe /f 2>$null
mkdir "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\CoBox" -Force
copy target\dist\cobox.exe "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\CoBox\"
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\CoBox\cobox.exe"

The first build takes a few minutes.

Always start CoBox from the install folder, not from target. On launch it adds itself to Windows startup using its own path.

Update

Pull or edit the code, then run the same commands as in Install. Your history and settings are kept.

Uninstall

1. Open CoBox, press Ctrl+, and set start with windows to off.
2. Run taskkill /im cobox.exe /f.
3. Delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\CoBox.
4. To also delete your history and settings, delete %APPDATA%\cobox.

Use

Press Alt+V to open CoBox. Start typing to search.

Key	Action
type	search
Up / Down	move
Enter	paste into the previous window
Shift+Enter	paste as plain text
Tab	next type: all, text, link, media, file
Right / Left	big preview / back
Ctrl+P	pin or unpin
Del	remove
Ctrl+Z	undo remove
Ctrl+,	settings
Esc	clear search, then hide

With the mouse: click to select, double-click to paste, right-click to pin, scroll to move through the list.

Esc, Alt+F4 and clicking outside only hide CoBox. It keeps running.

Settings

Press Ctrl+,. Use Up / Down to choose a setting and Left / Right to change it.

Setting	Options
theme	auto, dark, light
primary	5 colors
open with	alt+v, ctrl+shift+v, ctrl+alt+v, alt+c, ctrl+`
start with windows	on, off
keep history	forever, 1 year, 3 months, 1 month, 1 week (pinned items are always kept)
skip passwords	on, off (ignore copies that password managers mark as private)
text size	12, 13, 14
dim screen	off, light, medium, dark

Develop

cargo run          # fast debug build
.\run.bat          # stop the running copy, build, and start the new one

Only one CoBox runs at a time. A second copy exits right away.

File	Purpose
src/main.rs	user interface: search, list, preview, settings
src/store.rs	history database
src/win.rs	Windows parts: clipboard, hotkey, paste, thumbnails, startup
site/	website, published to GitHub Pages
vendor/gpui	GPUI 0.2.2 with a right-to-left text fix (see PATCHES.md)

Data is stored in %APPDATA%\cobox.