Crosspaste Desktop

What CrossPaste/crosspaste-desktop MCP server does

The CrossPaste/crosspaste-desktop MCP server connects an MCP-compatible assistant to the clipboard history managed by the CrossPaste desktop application. CrossPaste is a desktop clipboard manager for Windows, macOS, and Linux that synchronizes pasteboard content between devices. Its supported content types include text, colors, URLs, HTML, RTF, images, and files.

Through the MCP interface, an assistant can find previous clipboard entries, retrieve a selected item, inspect aggregate clipboard information, view available tags, and create a new clipboard entry. The integration is useful for workflows where an agent needs to locate something copied earlier, reuse text from another device, or send generated content into the user’s clipboard.

How it works

CrossPaste uses local storage and a serverless, LAN-oriented design for clipboard data. The application synchronizes pasteboard content across connected devices and protects data with asymmetric end-to-end encryption. The MCP server provides the assistant-facing access layer to the desktop application rather than replacing the application’s clipboard storage or synchronization features.

Copied images can have text extracted with CrossPaste’s built-in OCR. The project states that this processing happens locally and does not send screenshots over the network. As a result, an assistant can work with OCR-derived text from image clipboard entries through the available retrieval workflow, subject to what CrossPaste has stored for that item.

The CrossPaste/crosspaste-desktop MCP server exposes these tools:

• searchclipboard searches clipboard history.
• getpasteitem retrieves a clipboard item.
• getclipboardstats returns clipboard statistics.
• listtags lists clipboard tags.
• addtoclipboard adds content to the clipboard.

Setup and configuration

The repository documents building and running the desktop application from source. Clone the repository, change into its directory, and run ./gradlew app:run. The first launch downloads JetBrains Runtime and Gradle dependencies. If dependency downloads fail because of network restrictions, the README documents proxy properties that can be added to gradle.properties.

The project also publishes a download page for desktop releases. The provided material does not specify a separate MCP configuration file, command, port, or environment variable. Start the CrossPaste desktop application according to the project’s installation or development instructions before expecting the MCP tools to access clipboard data.

The application supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its broader project includes a command-line mode and a Chrome extension, but those are separate CrossPaste capabilities rather than additional MCP tools described here.

Limitations and notes

The supplied documentation does not define individual tool arguments, return schemas, authentication settings, or transport details for the MCP server. It also does not provide a complete compatibility list for MCP clients. Clipboard access depends on the desktop application and on the content it has synchronized or stored. OCR applies to text extracted from copied images; it should not be treated as general image understanding.

The CrossPaste/crosspaste-desktop MCP server is covered by the repository’s AGPL-3.0 license. Review the project documentation and release instructions for platform-specific installation details before deploying it in a managed environment.