Tuna

Clipboard History and Shelf

Clipboard history and Shelf are Tuna’s working memory.

They solve related problems, but not the same one.

Clipboard History

Clipboard history is automatic.

When you copy something, Tuna can keep it around so you can use it again later as a normal subject.

That might be:

  • text
  • links
  • files
  • images
  • colors

Copying the same text, link, files, image, or native macOS color again moves it to the front instead of keeping a duplicate entry.

Colors copied from Tuna include both their text representation and native macOS color data. Clipboard history also previews supported CSS color text, including hex, RGB, HSL, OKLab, and Display P3.

This is useful when “the thing I want” was something I copied five minutes ago.

Tuna encrypts saved clipboard text, previews, rich text, file paths, links, colors, and images with an authenticated key kept in your macOS Keychain. This protects the history database from someone who can read its files but cannot access your logged-in Keychain. It does not protect clipboard items while Tuna is running from software that has compromised your Mac or user account. The database can still reveal metadata such as the number, approximate sizes, identifiers, and times of saved entries. Existing unencrypted history is converted automatically; deleting the old files cannot guarantee removal from SSD storage or backups. If an encrypted database still has columns from the older layout, Tuna repairs its layout automatically while keeping the saved entries.

Shelf

Shelf is intentional.

It is where Tuna keeps things you want to hold onto, plus results from background work.

That makes it a good place for:

  • files or snippets you want to reuse across a few commands
  • outputs from longer-running actions, such as OCR to Shelf
  • things you want to stage later without keeping Tuna open

You can think of Shelf as a tray, not a history log.

Background tasks can expose a log with their output or error details. Open the task log and use Copy to put its complete text on the clipboard.

How They Fit Together

Clipboard history is the recent past.

Shelf is the active pile on your desk.

Both can become subjects in Tuna’s normal command flow, which means you can still:

  • open them
  • copy them again
  • send them into another action
  • restage them for a new command

Choose Shelf in Tuna and use Stage All to stage every available Shelf item together as the subjects for your next action. Running tasks are left out until they produce results, and the subjects keep the order currently shown in the Shelf catalog.

Typical Pattern

One common pattern is:

  1. Copy something.
  2. Reuse it from clipboard history.
  3. Add the version you want to keep to Shelf.
  4. Come back to it later.

That is why these features belong next to the command system instead of outside it.

Settings

Clipboard history can be enabled, limited, or ignored for specific apps in Tuna’s Library settings. Turning off automatic clipboard recording does not disable the separate History source.

Shelf has its own behavior settings too, like whether it stays on top and how it behaves when tasks finish.

What To Read Next

If you want the broader utility picture, read Built-In Tools.

If you want the exact keys for opening and navigating these tools, read Keyboard Shortcuts.