BuffBrain remembers what you copied — and understands what it means. On-device semantic search finds the clip you're looking for, even when you don't remember the exact words.
And a few things no clipboard manager has ever been.
Search by meaning, not just text. A MiniLM-L6 model runs on-device to embed every clip into a 384-dimensional vector. Type a concept, get matching results.
Everything runs locally. The ONNX model is bundled (~22MB). No data ever leaves your machine. No account. No API key required.
30+ heuristic rules detect code, links, and text instantly. Optionally connect OpenRouter for LLM-powered refinement.
Copied images are stored as thumbnails in SQLite. Scroll through your visual clipboard history alongside text.
Pin frequently-used clips so they stay at the top. Auto-classified tabs (Code / Links / Other) keep everything tidy.
Transparent, always-on-top window with a blur backdrop. Disappears when you switch focus — stays out of your way.
Cmd+Shift+V summons BuffBrain from anywhere. No clicking through menus — it's always one keystroke away.
Dark, Light, or System — follow your macOS preference. Every detail is crafted for both modes.
API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain. No config files with plaintext secrets. No telemetry. No tracking.
Every clip you copy is instantly embedded into a 384-dimensional vector by a quantized MiniLM-L6-v2 ONNX model — running entirely on your machine.
"Searching for 'fruit' finds clips containing 'apple', 'banana', and 'orange' — even though none of them contain the word 'fruit'. That's semantic search."
No clipboard manager has on-device semantic search. BuffBrain is the first — and it's free.
| Feature | BuffBrain | Alfred | Raycast | Maccy | Ditto | PastePilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semantic Search | ✦ On-device | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI Classification | ✅ 30+ rules + optional LLM | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ⚠️ GPT cloud |
| Local AI Only | ✦ Zero cloud by default | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Price | ✅ Free (MIT) | £49–£69 | Free + $10/mo | ✅ Free | ✅ Free | ✅ Free |
| Cross-Platform | ✅ macOS, Linux, Win | Mac only | Mac only | Mac only | ✅ Windows | Mac only |
| Image Clips | ✅ Thumbnails | ⚠️ Premium | ✅ | ✗ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Global Shortcut | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Frameless UI | ✦ Glass, always-on-top | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Privacy / No Telemetry | ✦ Zero tracking | ⚠️ Some | ⚠️ Some | ✅ Clean | ✅ Clean | ⚠️ Unknown |
| Open Source | ✅ MIT | ✗ | ✗ | ✅ GPL | ✅ GPL | ✗ |
| Platform | macOS, Linux, Windows | macOS | macOS | macOS | Windows | macOS |
Rust backend, React frontend, Tauri 2 framework — all tied together with a tiny ONNX model that fits inside your app bundle.
Clone the repo, build from source, and have a semantic-search-powered clipboard running in minutes. No account. No API key. Just your Mac.
git clone https://github.com/eulogik/buffbrain.git
cd buffbrain
npm install
npm run tauri dev