In your pouch
Copies and the clipboard
How long a copy lasts, where it can and can’t go, and the ways to copy or show a value.
Taking something out of your pouch usually means copying it, so Carriel is careful with the clipboard.
What happens when you copy
- Carriel asks first: Touch ID, your Apple Watch or your Mac’s password. One answer covers the next 30 seconds while the panel or the window stays open.
- The copy stays on this Mac. Universal Clipboard doesn’t hand it to your iPhone or your other Macs.
- It’s marked for clipboard history to skip. The copy is marked concealed and transient. Clipboard managers that honour those markers leave it out of their history; one that ignores them can keep it.
- It clears itself after 30 seconds, and when your Mac locks, sleeps, its screen locks, or Carriel quits. You can choose 15, 30, 60 or 90 seconds in Settings › Keyboard.
- It only clears its own copy. If you’ve copied something else since, Carriel leaves your clipboard alone.
While a copy waits, the pouch in the menu bar shows a ring that drains until it clears.
Ways to copy
| Action | Copies | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Copy | The value | Return in the panel; Copy in the window |
Copy as NAME=… | The key as a line for an .env file, such as OPENAI_API_KEY=… | ⌥Return in the panel, for keys with an env name |
| Copy Account | A password’s account, such as an email address | ⇧Return in the panel |
| Copy Next Code | The next unused recovery code; the notice says “Copied code 3 of 16” | The first action on recovery codes |
| Save a Copy… | A file, through the save panel | Files, in the panel or the window |
Show it instead
When you need to read a value rather than paste it, press ⌘Return in the panel or Show in the window. A small panel of Carriel’s own shows it in a fixed-width font, in groups of four, with 0 and O told apart. It closes after 10 seconds, when you let go, or when you click elsewhere.
Carriel asks macOS to keep that panel out of screenshots and screen sharing. Some recorders ignore the request, so don’t show a value while you share your screen.
Any app running as you can read the clipboard while a copy sits there. To keep that window short, choose 15 seconds, or use Show and type the value where it goes.