AI paste transforms text between copying and pasting. In ClipHistory you copy a clip, run an AI transform (summarize, rewrite, translate, or clean), and paste the improved result.

Do AI transforms require my own API key?

Yes. You connect one of five providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, or a custom endpoint) with your own key and pay your provider directly for usage.

Is my clipboard data uploaded anywhere?

Only the specific clip you choose to transform is sent to your configured provider. Everything else stays local on your Mac. There is no cloud or account.

How many clips does ClipHistory keep?

150 unpinned clips and an unlimited number of pinned clips, so transformed results and originals coexist in your history.

How much does ClipHistory cost?

A one-time $19.99 with a 12-month license and no auto-renewal. AI usage is separate and billed by your own provider.

AI Paste and Rewrite on macOS

"AI paste" means transforming text between when you copy it and when you paste it. Instead of pasting the raw clip, you paste an improved version: shorter, cleaner, rewritten, or translated. ClipHistory builds this into the clipboard on macOS, so the transform happens where you already work.

How AI paste works in ClipHistory

ClipHistory keeps a history of what you copy, opened with the global shortcut Cmd+Shift+V. Every clip can be run through an AI transform. There are four:

Summarize — condense a long clip to its key points.
Rewrite — restate text more clearly while keeping the meaning.
Translate — convert text to another language.
Clean — normalize quotes, spacing, and stray characters.

The pattern is always the same: copy, press Cmd+Shift+V, pick the clip, choose a transform, paste the result. The transformed text becomes a new clip, so the original is still there if you want it.

It runs on your own API key

ClipHistory does not host an AI model. You connect one of five providers with your own API key:

Anthropic
OpenAI
DeepSeek
Google
A custom endpoint

You pay your provider for usage at their rate; ClipHistory adds no markup and no per-transform fee. This also means you choose the model. A capable model for rewriting, a cheap one for cleaning, whatever fits the task.

Local by design

This is the part that separates clipboard-level AI from web tools: everything stays on your Mac. ClipHistory has no cloud and no account. Your clips, your history, and your transformed results all live locally. The only data that leaves your machine is the specific clip you choose to transform, sent directly to your configured provider.

Clips you never transform never go anywhere. That makes it safe to keep AI paste enabled even when you are copying sensitive material, because nothing is transmitted until you explicitly run a transform.

A day of AI paste

What does this look like in practice? A few realistic moments:

Rewriting a message

You drafted a Slack reply that is too blunt. Copy it, Cmd+Shift+V, Rewrite, paste. The softened version is back in the box in seconds.

Summarizing a long thread

Someone pastes a wall of text. Copy it, Summarize, and read the three-line version before deciding whether to read the rest.

Translating on the fly

A message arrives in another language. Copy, Translate, paste your understanding into your notes.

Cleaning a paste

You grabbed code from a web page with smart quotes. Copy, Clean, paste working code.

How it differs from a chatbot

A chatbot and AI paste solve overlapping problems differently. A chatbot is a destination: you go to it, paste, prompt, and copy back. AI paste is a pipe: the transform happens on the clip in place, with the instruction already built in, and the result lands back in your history. For long, exploratory conversations a chatbot is the right tool. For the dozens of small, repetitive text chores in a day, going to a destination each time is the slow path. AI paste collapses that to a shortcut, which is why it pairs well with, rather than replaces, a chatbot.

Managing the results

Because every transform produces a clip, your history fills with both originals and outputs. ClipHistory keeps 150 unpinned clips and unlimited pinned ones, so:

Pin an original you want to keep iterating on.
Use the paste stack to queue several transformed clips and paste them in order.
Save a frequently used result as a snippet and group snippets on boards.

Setting it up

Getting AI paste working is a one-time setup:

Install ClipHistory (universal binary, macOS 12 or later, signed and notarized by Apple).
Open preferences and choose a provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, or a custom endpoint.
Paste in your API key for that provider.
Confirm the global shortcut is Cmd+Shift+V.

After that, every clip in your history has the four transforms available. There is no account to create and nothing to sign into, because the key is the only credential involved and it is yours.

Choosing a model per transform

Since you pick the model, you can match it to the job:

Rewrite and Summarize read more naturally from a stronger model; the wording is the point.
Translate benefits from a capable model on rare language pairs, less so on common ones.
Clean is mechanical, so a small, cheap model is usually plenty.

You can switch the configured model whenever you want, and because billing is per use on your own key, a more expensive model only costs more on the transforms you actually run with it.

Why clipboard-level beats a separate app

The value of AI paste is not that the model is special, it is that the transform happens inline, with no context switch. You copy where you are, transform with one shortcut, and paste where you are going. Combined with your own API key and fully local storage, AI paste turns four common text chores into single keystrokes that never leave your Mac unless you tell them to.

Ready to put AI one keystroke away? Get ClipHistory for macOS for a one-time $19.99 (12-month license, no auto-renewal). Signed and notarized by Apple, universal binary, everything stays on your Mac.