osc

A command line tool to access the system clipboard from anywhere using the ANSI OSC52 sequence.

System clipboard access includes writing (i.e. copy) and reading (i.e. paste), even while logged into a remote machine via ssh.

Examples

Copying to the clipboard

❯ echo -n asdf | osc copy
# String 'asdf' copied to clipboard

Pasting from the clipboard

❯ osc paste
asdf

Clearing the clipboard

❯ osc copy  /dev/null
# Clipboard cleared

Usage

Reads or writes the system clipboard using the ANSI OSC52 escape sequence.

Usage:
  osc [command]

Available Commands:
  completion  Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
  copy        Copies input to the system clipboard
  help        Help about any command
  paste       Outputs system clipboard contents to stdout
  version     Outputs version information

Flags:
  -c, --clipboard string   target clipboard, can be empty or one or more of c, p, q, s, or 0-7 (default "c")
  -d, --device string      use specific tty device
  -h, --help               help for osc
  -l, --log string         write logs to file
  -t, --timeout float      tty read timeout in seconds (default 5)
  -v, --verbose            verbose logging

Use "osc [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Compatibility

OSC52 is overall widely supported, but clipboard read operation is less widely supported than write.

Terminal	Terminal OS	Shell OS	Copy	Paste	Notes
alacritty 0.13.1	macOS	linux	✓	✓	Paste support requires setting terminal.osc52 to CopyPaste or OnlyPaste
alacritty 0.13.1	macOS	macOS	✓	✓	Paste support requires setting terminal.osc52 to CopyPaste or OnlyPaste
alacritty 0.13.2	Windows	linux	✓	✗
alacritty 0.13.2	Windows	Windows	✓	✗
kitty 0.29.0	macOS	linux	✓	✓	Prompts for access
kitty 0.29.0	macOS	macOS	✓	✓	Prompts for access
windows terminal v1.17.11461.0	Windows	Windows	✓	✗
windows terminal v1.17.11461.0	Windows	linux	✓	✗
mintty 3.7.6	Windows	Windows	✓	✗	Paste support: #13
mintty 3.7.6	Windows	linux	✓	✓	Configure AllowSetSelection, AllowPasteSelection to true for copy and paste respectively. Must use cygwin openssh, native ssh.exe for windows causes issues.
iterm2	macOS	linux	✓	✓	Paste requires version 3.5.0. Prompts for access.
iterm2	macOS	macOS	✓	✓	Paste requires version 3.5.0. Prompts for access.
hterm	ChromeOS	linux	✓	✗

Terminal Multiplexer support

Using alacritty as the terminal:

Terminal Multiplexer	Copy	Paste	Notes
screen 4.09.00	✓	✓
zellij 0.37.2	✓	✗	Paste not supported: zellij-org/zellij#2647
tmux 3.3	✓	✓	allow-passthrough (for copy) and set-clipboard (for paste) should be enabled

Installation

Installing a Binary

Download the latest binary from GitHub.

osc is a stand-alone binary. Once downloaded, copy it to a location you can run executables from (ie: /usr/local/bin/), and set the permissions accordingly:

chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/osc

Installing from Source

go install -v github.com/theimpostor/osc@latest

This will install the latest version of osc to $GOPATH/bin. To find out where $GOPATH is, run go env GOPATH

Neovim clipboard Provider

osc can be used as the clipboard provider for Neovim:

vim.cmd([[
let g:clipboard = {
  \   'name': 'osc-copy',
  \   'copy': {
  \      '+': 'osc copy',
  \      '*': 'osc copy',
  \    },
  \   'paste': {
  \      '+': 'osc paste',
  \      '*': 'osc paste',
  \   },
  \   'cache_enabled': 0,
  \ }
]])

N.B. Neovim 0.10 introduced native support for OSC52, so this may not be needed. See the Neovim documentation.

Credits

• ojroques/vim-ocsyank - inspiration and introduction to OSC52
• rumpelsepp/oscclip - working python implementation
• gdamore/tcell - terminal handling