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Product Model

blipcoard is a local-first clipboard routing system for people who work with coding agents, terminals, bug reports, screenshots, and copied snippets across several tasks at once.

The product problem is simple: the OS clipboard is global, invisible, and easy to over-share. blipcoard turns clipboard events into visible records called blips, then lets the user decide which workspace each blip belongs to.

Core Ideas​

Blips​

A blip is one clipboard event captured by blipd.

Blips keep the information needed to inspect, route, search, and audit a copied item:

  • when it was captured
  • what workspace it currently belongs to
  • whether it is text, image, file-list, rich text, or another payload kind
  • bounded preview metadata
  • redaction state
  • tags and source metadata when available

The OS clipboard still behaves normally. blipcoard mirrors clipboard content into its own local store so the user can manage it intentionally.

Inbox​

inbox is the default landing area for newly captured blips.

It is a human triage queue, not an agent-readable workspace. This default keeps fresh clipboard content visible to the user while avoiding accidental agent access to sensitive material.

Workspaces​

A workspace is a named context bucket for a task, issue, investigation, or conversation. Examples:

  • auth-bug
  • checkout-smoke-test
  • design-review
  • release-notes

Users can route blips from inbox into a workspace manually, send the latest blip with the CLI, or enable sticky routing when they want new copies to keep flowing into the current task.

Active Workspace​

The active workspace is the workspace currently attached to the user's workflow.

CLI commands, desktop controls, and future agent tools should all agree on this state. Agent-facing reads should default to the active workspace, not the raw clipboard and not every workspace.

Product Surfaces​

blipcoard is one runtime system with multiple entry points:

  • blipd: background daemon and owner of clipboard ingestion
  • blip: terminal client for routing, listing, searching, and operations
  • blipcoard: desktop UI for visual inspection, previews, and routing

The daemon is the source of truth. The CLI and desktop app are clients.

Default Workflow​

  1. The user copies text, an image, a file list, or rich content.
  2. blipd observes the clipboard event and writes a local blip.
  3. New blips start in inbox unless sticky routing sends them elsewhere.
  4. The user reviews the blip in the desktop app or CLI.
  5. The user routes useful blips into a workspace.
  6. Agents or scripts read only the workspace they are allowed to read.

This keeps ordinary clipboard usage fast while making agent context deliberate.

What Blipcoard Is Not​

blipcoard is not a cloud clipboard by default, a password manager, or a replacement for the operating system clipboard. It is a local coordination layer between the clipboard, user-controlled workspaces, and agent-safe retrieval.

Hosted or shared workspaces are opt-in collaboration features. They publish selected blips or visibly enabled share-mode captures, not every local clipboard event by default. See Hosted workspace architecture.