MCP Clipboard Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides clipboard access tools for AI assistants and automation workflows. Seamlessly integrate clipboard operations into your AI-powered applications.

📚 Quick Navigation

• 🚀 Quick Start - Get up and running in minutes
• ✨ Features - Full feature overview
• 📋 Tools - Available clipboard operations
• 🔧 Usage Examples - JSON-RPC protocol examples
• 🏗️ Installation & Setup - Platform-specific instructions
• 🔍 Troubleshooting - Platform support and common issues
• 📖 Technical Reference - Protocol details
• 🤝 Contributing - Development and contribution guidelines

🚀 Quick Start

Install the server:

pip install mcp-clipboardify

Start the server:

mcp-clipboardify
# or alternatively:
python -m mcp_clipboard_server

✨ Features

• Cross-platform clipboard access - Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux with platform-specific fallback handling
• MCP protocol compliance - Full JSON-RPC 2.0 over STDIO implementation with batch request support
• JSON Schema validation - Comprehensive parameter validation with detailed error messages
• Two core tools:
  • get_clipboard - Retrieve current clipboard content
  • set_clipboard - Set clipboard to provided text
• Enhanced error handling - Platform-specific guidance for troubleshooting clipboard issues
• Graceful degradation - Fails safely with empty string on read errors, detailed error messages on write failures
• Size limits - 1MB text limit to prevent memory issues
• Unicode support - Full UTF-8 support for international text and emoji
• Type safety - Built with TypedDict for reliable protocol compliance
• Production ready - Comprehensive testing across platforms with CI/CD pipeline

📋 Tools

get_clipboard

Retrieves the current text content from the system clipboard.

Parameters: None

Returns: Current clipboard content as a string

set_clipboard

Sets the system clipboard to the provided text content.

Parameters:

• text (string, required): The text content to copy to the clipboard
  • Maximum size: 1MB (1,048,576 bytes)
  • Supports Unicode text and emoji

Returns: Success confirmation

🔧 Usage Examples

Basic MCP Client Communication

The server uses JSON-RPC 2.0 over STDIO. Here are example request/response patterns:

# Initialize the connection:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "initialize",
  "params": {
    "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
    "capabilities": {},
    "clientInfo": {
      "name": "example-client",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    }
  }
}

# List available tools:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "method": "tools/list",
  "params": {}
}

# Get clipboard content:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_clipboard",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}

# Set clipboard content:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "set_clipboard",
    "arguments": {
      "text": "Hello, World! 🌍"
    }
  }
}

# Batch Requests (JSON-RPC 2.0)

The server supports batch requests for processing multiple operations in a single call:

[
  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "get_clipboard",
      "arguments": {}
    }
  },
  {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 2,
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "set_clipboard",
      "arguments": {
        "text": "Batch operation result"
      }
    }
  }
]

🔧 JSON-RPC 2.0 Compliance

This server implements full JSON-RPC 2.0 specification with the following features:

Supported Features

• ✅ Single requests - Standard request/response pattern
• ✅ Batch requests - Process multiple requests in one call
• ✅ Notifications - Fire-and-forget messages (e.g., $/ping)
• ✅ Error handling - Comprehensive error codes and messages
• ✅ Parameter validation - JSON Schema-based validation with detailed error reports

Schema Validation

All tool parameters are validated against JSON schemas with helpful error messages:

• Type validation - Ensures parameters are correct types
• Required fields - Validates all required parameters are present
• Size limits - Enforces 1MB text size limit for clipboard operations
• Additional properties - Rejects unexpected parameters

Error Codes

The server uses standard JSON-RPC 2.0 error codes plus MCP-specific extensions:

• -32700 Parse error (invalid JSON)
• -32600 Invalid Request (malformed JSON-RPC)
• -32601 Method not found
• -32602 Invalid params (schema validation failures)
• -32603 Internal error
• -32000 Server error (MCP-specific errors)

Integration with MCP Clients

This server works with any MCP-compatible client. Example integration:

import subprocess
import json

# Start the server
process = subprocess.Popen(
    ["mcp-clipboardify"],
    stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
    stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
    text=True
)

# Send initialize request
init_request = {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "initialize",
    "params": {
        "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
        "capabilities": {},
        "clientInfo": {"name": "my-client", "version": "1.0.0"}
    }
}

process.stdin.write(json.dumps(init_request) + '\n')
process.stdin.flush()

# Read response
response = json.loads(process.stdout.readline())
print(response)

🏗️ Installation & Setup

System Requirements

• Python: 3.8 or higher
• Operating System: Windows, macOS, or Linux
• Dependencies: pyperclip for cross-platform clipboard access

Platform-Specific Setup

# Linux

You may need to install additional packages for clipboard support:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install xclip
# or
sudo apt-get install xsel

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install xclip

# Windows & macOS

No additional setup required - clipboard access works out of the box.

Install from PyPI

pip install mcp-clipboardify

Install from Source

git clone https://github.com/fluffypony/mcp-clipboardify.git
cd mcp-clipboardify
poetry install

🧪 Development

Setup Development Environment

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/fluffypony/mcp-clipboardify.git
   cd mcp-clipboardify
   

2. Install Poetry (if not already installed):

   curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -
   

3. Install dependencies:

   poetry install
   

4. Run the server in development:

   poetry run python -m mcp_clipboard_server
   

Testing

Run the test suite:

# Run all tests
poetry run pytest

# Run with coverage
poetry run pytest --cov=mcp_clipboard_server

# Run specific test categories
poetry run pytest tests/test_unit.py
poetry run pytest tests/test_integration.py

Code Quality

# Type checking
poetry run mypy src/

# Linting
poetry run flake8 src/

# Formatting
poetry run black src/ tests/

🔍 Troubleshooting

Platform Support

The MCP Clipboard Server provides comprehensive cross-platform support with intelligent fallback handling:

# ✅ Windows

• Requirements: No additional dependencies
• Supported: Windows 10/11, Windows Server 2019+
• Features: Full Unicode support, CRLF line ending handling
• Notes: May require clipboard access permissions in some enterprise environments

# ✅ macOS

• Requirements: macOS 10.15+ recommended
• Supported: Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
• Features: Full Unicode support, RTF content fallback to plain text
• Notes: Security permissions may be required (System Preferences > Privacy & Security)

# ✅ Linux

• Requirements: X11 display server and clipboard utilities
• Installation:

  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt-get install xclip xsel
  
  # RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
  sudo yum install xclip xsel
  
  # Arch Linux
  sudo pacman -S xclip xsel
  

• Supported Distributions: Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, Arch Linux
• Features: Full Unicode support, headless environment detection
• Notes: Requires DISPLAY environment variable for GUI clipboard access

# 🔧 WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

• Requirements: WSL2 with Windows 10 build 19041+
• Installation:

  sudo apt-get install wslu  # For clip.exe integration
  

• Features: Clipboard sharing with Windows host
• Notes: Use Windows Terminal or enable clipboard sharing in WSL configuration

# 🚫 Headless/Server Environments

• Behavior: Graceful degradation - read operations return empty string
• Use Case: Automated testing, CI/CD environments
• Notes: Write operations will fail with descriptive error messages

Platform-Specific Guidance

The server automatically detects your platform and provides specific guidance when clipboard operations fail:

# Linux Troubleshooting

# Missing utilities error
sudo apt-get install xclip xsel

# No display error
export DISPLAY=:0  # or run in desktop environment

# Headless system
# Read operations return empty string (graceful)
# Write operations fail with clear error message

# WSL Troubleshooting

# Install Windows integration
sudo apt-get install wslu

# Enable clipboard sharing in ~/.wslconfig
[wsl2]
guiApplications=true

# macOS Troubleshooting

# Security permissions
# Go to System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Input Monitoring
# Add Terminal or your application

# Sandboxed applications
# May have limited clipboard access

# Windows Troubleshooting

REM Antivirus blocking
REM Add exception for clipboard access

REM Enterprise policies
REM Check with IT administrator for clipboard permissions

Common Issues

# Platform Detection Issues

Symptoms: Unexpected platform-specific errors Solution: The server automatically detects your environment. Check logs with MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG for detailed platform information.

# Unicode Content Problems

Symptoms: International text or emoji not displaying correctly Solution: Ensure your terminal/application supports UTF-8 encoding. The server handles Unicode correctly on all platforms.

# Large Content Handling

Solution: The server enforces a 1MB limit. Split large content into smaller chunks.

# Server Not Responding

Solution: Check that the client is sending proper JSON-RPC 2.0 formatted messages.

Debugging

Enable debug logging:

# Set environment variable for detailed logs
export MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
export MCP_LOG_JSON=true
mcp-clipboardify

Getting Help

• Platform Guide: Platform-specific setup instructions
• Troubleshooting: Common issues and solutions
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• MCP Specification: Model Context Protocol

Installation Verification

After installation, verify everything works:

# Quick verification
mcp-clipboardify --help

# Comprehensive verification (requires download)
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fluffypony/mcp-clipboardify/main/scripts/verify_installation.sh | bash

# Or with Python script
python -c "from scripts.verify_installation import InstallationVerifier; InstallationVerifier().run_all_tests()"

📖 Protocol Details & Technical Reference

MCP Compliance

This server implements the Model Context Protocol specification:

• Transport: JSON-RPC 2.0 over STDIO
• Required methods: initialize, tools/list, tools/call
• Optional methods: Ping notifications for keep-alive
• Error handling: Standard JSON-RPC error codes

Message Format

All messages are line-delimited JSON objects:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{...}}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}

Error Codes

The server returns standard JSON-RPC 2.0 error codes:

• -32700: Parse error (invalid JSON)
• -32600: Invalid request (malformed JSON-RPC)
• -32601: Method not found
• -32602: Invalid params
• -32603: Internal error

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Development Guide for contributing guidelines and workflow details.

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Run the test suite: poetry run pytest
6. Commit your changes: git commit -am 'Add my feature'
7. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
8. Create a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Model Context Protocol specification
• pyperclip for cross-platform clipboard access
• The Python community for excellent tooling and libraries

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Made with ❤️ for the AI and automation community