CLI reference #

The standalone clipboard-transformer binary shares configuration, rules, plugins, and native clipboard readers with the desktop app. It does not own the tray runtime and never silently becomes a daemon.

You do not need the CLI to use the desktop app. This reference is for terminal users, scripts, diagnostics, and integrations.

Command	Purpose
paths	Print resolved config, plugin, state, cache, and app paths.
doctor	Print platform capability and path diagnostics.
config init [--config-file path]	Create starter YAML and its schema without overwriting an existing config.
config check [config source]	Expand imports, discover plugins, compile rules, and report issues.
config schema	Print or write built-in and plugin-aware JSON Schema.
rules list [config source] [--available-only]	List known built-in, native shell, and plugin rule types.
rules view effective [config source] [--format json|yaml]	Print normalized rules, warnings, and source locations.
clipboard inspect	Describe the persisted latest item or explicitly read the current clipboard.
clipboard watch [--format text|jsonl] [--transform[=both|transformed-only]]	Observe clipboard changes without writing to the clipboard.
transform [config source]	Transform the current clipboard once and write the result back.
transform --preview [config source]	Show the current clipboard transformation without writing it. --dry-run is an alias.
transform - [config source] [--input-format value]	Read UTF-8 stdin and write only the final text to stdout.
plugin ...	Install, inspect, diagnose, list, or reload plugins.

Run clipboard-transformer <command> --help for complete option details.

Transform and preview #

Omitting the input source means the current clipboard:

clipboard-transformer transform --preview
clipboard-transformer transform

The explicit - selects the stdin/stdout pipeline:

printf '%s' 'https://example.com/?utm_source=test&id=42' |
  clipboard-transformer transform -

Stdin represents plain text by default. Use --input-format url (or another configured clipboard format) when testing a rule restricted to that format.

Every rule-loading command uses --config for inline YAML/TOML and --config-file for a file. Omitting both selects the system config. Inline config discovers no plugins unless --plugin-dir is also given and does not expand imports.

Effective rules #

clipboard-transformer rules view effective

For file and system configs, the output is a diagnostic, loader-filtered representation after import expansion. Inline configs are self-contained and do not expand imports. The output is not a lossless authored YAML/TOML syntax tree and not the private compiled execution plan.

Available rule types #

clipboard-transformer rules list
clipboard-transformer rules list --available-only
clipboard-transformer rules list --format json

The default list includes every known built-in and native rule type plus rule descriptors from readable plugin manifests. Disabled shell rules and plugin types unavailable under the selected configuration remain visible with their status. --available-only filters them out.