Search, read and re-copy your Mac clipboard history from Pastea. Local, pairs with one click.
Pastea MCP Server (io.github.pastea-app/pastea-mcp)
Pastea MCP is a local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Pastea. It supports searching, reading, and re-copying content from your Mac clipboard history, with functionality described as “Local” and “pairs with one click.” It is positioned for use with Claude, Cursor, and Codex.
🛠️ Key Features
Search clipboard history from Pastea
Read clipboard history entries
Re-copy clipboard items
Runs as a local MCP server
🚀 Use Cases
Retrieve past clipboard content from Pastea
Move prior clipboard entries into an editor workflow
Support assistant-driven copy/reuse for Mac clipboard history
⚡ Developer Benefits
Integrates with MCP for tool-based access to clipboard history
Designed to work with Claude, Cursor, and Codex
⚠️ Limitations
Scope is limited to Pastea clipboard history on a Mac (“Mac clipboard history from Pastea”)
📦 Metadata
Topics: Pastea MCP, local MCP server, clipboard history, Mac
Local MCP server for Pastea. Give Claude, Cursor, Codex, VS Code and
other AI tools access to your Mac's clipboard history — without anything leaving your Mac.
Your assistant can search what you copied, pull a clip into context (including the text
Pastea reads inside your screenshots), and put a clip back on the clipboard for you to paste.
Pastea runs the MCP server itself, on 127.0.0.1 only. This package is the thin,
dependency-free bridge that AI apps launch: it finds Pastea, asks it for access once —
you click Allow in Pastea — and relays messages over stdio.
Install
Claude Desktop
One click from Pastea: open Settings → MCP & AI Tools, turn on Enable MCP, and click
Claude Desktop. Claude Desktop opens with the Pastea extension ready to install.
Or find Pastea in Claude Desktop under Settings → Extensions → Browse extensions, or
download pastea-mcp-<version>.mcpb from the
latest release and double-click it.
The first time Claude uses it, Pastea asks you to allow the connection.
Every other AI app
Use add-mcp to connect Pastea to all your installed
AI apps at once:
The first time an app uses Pastea, Pastea shows "Allow <app> to use your clipboard
history?" — click Allow and the tools appear.
Connect from Pastea
Every app above can also be connected from inside Pastea — Settings → MCP & AI Tools,
click the app's chip. Cursor and VS Code open an install prompt; Claude Code, Windsurf and
Codex get the exact command or config to paste, already carrying an access token, so no
pairing prompt is needed.
Pastea's MCP & AI Tools settings page
What your assistant can do
Tool
What it does
search_clips
Search your clipboard history and lists — text, links, file names, and text recognized in screenshots.
get_clip
Read one clip in full, with a thumbnail for pictures.
list_collections
List your history and the lists you made, with counts.
copy_clip
Put a clip back on the system clipboard, exactly as copied. You paste it yourself with ⌘V.
pastea_status
Says whether Pastea is reachable and connected, and what to do if not.
An AI tool can never delete a clip, never pastes into another app, and never sees items
Pastea conceals (from password managers).
How pairing works
The bridge ships with no credentials. On first use it asks Pastea for access and Pastea shows
"Allow Claude Desktop to use your clipboard history?" (or Cursor, Codex, …). Click Allow
and the tools appear a moment later; click Don't Allow and nothing is granted — the assistant
gets a pastea_status tool that explains the situation.
Connections are listed in Pastea → Settings → MCP & AI Tools → Connected AI Tools, where
you can Revoke each one. Pastea then asks again only if you ask the assistant to reconnect.
Requirements
macOS 15 or later
Pastea 1.3+ with Pastea Pro, and Enable MCP turned on in
Settings → MCP & AI Tools
For npx installs: Node.js 20+ (Claude Desktop needs nothing — it ships its own)
Privacy Policy
Pastea MCP runs locally on your Mac.
It connects only to Pastea on 127.0.0.1 and to nothing else. It makes no network
requests to Nexo Labs or any third party, and carries no analytics or telemetry.
It moves clipboard data only between Pastea and the AI app that runs it, and only after
you clicked Allow in Pastea. What that AI app does with clips it reads is governed by that
app's own privacy policy.
It stores one thing: the access token Pastea issued when you clicked Allow, in
~/Library/Application Support/Pastea/MCP Bridge/tokens.json, readable by your user
account only. Revoking the connection in Pastea invalidates it immediately; uninstalling
Pastea removes the file.
Concealed clips are never available to it, and it cannot delete anything.
Full policy — what data Pastea processes, how it is stored, sharing, retention, and contact:
https://pastea.app/privacy.
Troubleshooting
"Pastea isn't running, or its MCP endpoint is turned off."
Open Pastea and turn on Enable MCP in Settings → MCP & AI Tools, then ask the assistant to
call pastea_status.
"Pastea Pro is required."
MCP access is a Pro feature. Subscribe in Pastea's Settings, then call pastea_status.
"Pastea is asking the user to allow this connection."
Look for the Pastea window — it may be behind the AI app — and click Allow.
The tools vanished.
The connection was revoked in Pastea, or Pastea was reset. Ask the assistant to call
pastea_status to pair again.
Tools don't show up after connecting.
Fully quit and reopen the AI app so it relaunches the bridge.
Changed Pastea's port?
The bridge reads it from Pastea's preferences on every launch; restart the AI app.
Logs for Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-Pastea.log. The bridge never logs
the token.
then type JSON-RPC lines on stdin (initialize, notifications/initialized, tools/list).
Releases are cut by tagging v<version> (matching package.json, manifest.json,
server.json and src/version.ts); the workflow packs the bundle and publishes it.
