Everything you copy, kept.
⌘C overwrites. That is the whole design of the clipboard, and it is why the thing you copied ten minutes ago is gone. The Stash keeps it instead.
The Stash is Stilou's clipboard history on macOS. Every copy is mirrored into a searchable list on your Mac instead of overwriting the last one, so nothing you copied is lost. It skips anything a password manager marks as concealed, holds text rather than images, and Neo can read from it when you ask.
What the Stash is
The system clipboard holds exactly one thing. Copy an address, then copy a link, and the address is gone — not archived, not recoverable, gone. Everyone has re-found the same URL three times in an afternoon because of it.
The Stash is the fix that clipboard managers have offered for years: a running history of what you copied, newest first, searchable, kept on your machine. Stilou's version is a section of Home's Vault rather than a separate app, and it fills itself — you do not press anything extra, you just keep copying the way you already do.
What makes it different from a standalone clipboard manager is where it sits. The same brain that holds your dictations, notes, screenshots and meetings also holds what you copied, which means Neo can reach it. “What was that tracking number I copied yesterday?” is answerable, because the answer is a dot like any other.
How to use the Stash
There is no step one. That is rather the point.
- Copy as you always doEvery ⌘C is mirrored into the Stash automatically. Nothing to press, no extra shortcut to learn, no decision at the moment of copying.
- Open Home and go to the VaultThe Stash is a section of the Vault, newest first. What you copied five minutes ago is at the top; what you copied last Tuesday is further down.
- Search itThe Vault's search field filters the list on plain substring matching, so type any fragment you remember of the text itself.
- Or just askBecause the Stash is in the same brain as everything else, Neo can read it. Ask for the thing you copied rather than going to look for it.
Tip. Copies your password manager marks as concealed never enter the Stash in the first place — see the privacy section below.
What the Stash does
It fills itself.
A monitor watches the clipboard and mirrors each change into the history. macOS has no clipboard-change notification, so this is done by polling a counter — cheap, and invisible to you.
Passwords never enter it.
Copies marked transient, concealed or auto-generated — the standard markers password managers and one-time-token fields set — are skipped. A secret you copy is not recorded at all, rather than recorded and hidden.
It survives a relaunch.
The list is written to a file in Application Support rather than held in memory, so quitting the app or restarting the Mac does not empty it. It is capped, so the oldest entries eventually drop off.
Neo can read it.
The Stash is part of the same brain as your notes, calls and screenshots, so what you copied is available to a question rather than only to a scroll.
The Deck doesn't pollute it.
⌥Space performs a synthetic copy to grab your selection. That one is deliberately skipped, so using Stilou's own tools does not fill your history with your own selections.
The Stash vs a dedicated clipboard manager
Raycast, Paste, Maccy and Alfred all do clipboard history, several of them very well. This is a narrower thing that happens to sit somewhere useful.
| Stilou's Stash | A clipboard manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Captures every copy automatically | Yes | Yes |
| Skips password-manager copies | Yes, by pasteboard marker | Usually, in the good ones |
| Survives a restart | Yes — a file on your disk | Yes |
| Images, files and rich content | No — text only | Yes, generally |
| Pinned or favourite clips | No | Yes |
| Snippets and expansions | No | Often |
| Search | Plain substring, newest first | Usually fuzzy, sometimes by app or type |
| Sits in the same memory as your notes and calls | Yes | No |
| An assistant can read it | Yes — Neo can | No |
| Its own app to install | No — a section of Home | Yes |
If clipboard history is the problem you are solving, install a clipboard manager — they hold images, pin clips and expand snippets, and Stilou does none of that. The Stash earns its place by being in the same brain as everything else, not by being a better clipboard manager.
The Stash and your data
A clipboard history is the single most sensitive log on a computer, because sooner or later everyone copies a password, a card number or a recovery code. So the first thing the Stash does is not record.
macOS has a convention for this: an app that puts something on the clipboard can mark it transient, concealed or auto-generated, and password managers use it. Stilou honours those markers, so a copied credential is never written to the history at all. Not stored and masked — not stored.
Everything that is kept lives in a file on your own disk, in Application Support, not in an account. In Private mode nothing about it is transmitted anywhere. It is capped, so it does not grow without limit, and you can clear it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Stash record my passwords?
No. Password managers and one-time-token fields mark what they put on the clipboard with the standard transient, concealed or auto-generated pasteboard types, and Stilou skips anything carrying those. The copy is never written to the history — it is not stored and then hidden, it is simply not recorded.
Does it keep images and files?
No, text only. If you copy screenshots or files around all day, a dedicated clipboard manager is the better tool and we say so in the comparison above. What Stilou does have for images is Screenshots, which reads and indexes the captures you take.
How far back does it go?
The list is capped, and the oldest entries drop off as new ones arrive. It is stored as a file on your disk rather than in memory, so quitting Stilou or restarting your Mac does not clear it.
Does using ⌥Space fill it up?
No. The Deck grabs your selection with a synthetic copy, and that one is deliberately ignored by the monitor. Only your own copies land in the history.
Can Neo see what I've copied?
Yes, that is the point of it living in the brain rather than in a separate app — Neo can read the Stash when a question needs it. In Private mode that reading happens on your Mac and nothing is transmitted.
Can I clear it?
Yes. The whole list can be cleared, and individual items removed. It is your file.