We've all been there: you find a great link, image, or snippet of text on your phone and need it on your laptop right now. Emailing it to yourself feels clunky, and chat apps compress images.
Instant Paste solves this. It's a real-time clipboard synchronization tool that lets you instantly share text, images, and even videos between any of your devices just by opening a web page. No accounts, no installs, just a room code and you're connected. It supports end-to-end encryption so your data stays yours.
I currently host my own instance on an old Android phone running Linux, proving that you don't need expensive servers to run powerful tools.
The magic happens through WebSockets, which allow for a persistent, two-way connection between your devices and the server.
- Room Creation: When you open the site, you join a specific "room".
- Real-Time Sync: As soon as you paste something on one device, the content is sent to the server and instantly broadcast to every other device in that same room.
- Security: For those needing extra privacy, you can enable End-to-End Encryption. This uses the Web Crypto API right in your browser to encrypt your clipboard data with a password before it leaves your device. The server only sees encrypted gibberish; only your devices with the password can read the actual content.
It's built with a React frontend for a snappy user experience and a Node.js backend to handle the high-speed traffic.
Here is a quick overview of how the project is organized:
server.js- The brain of the backend. It handles the WebSocket connections and simple API requests.client/- The React frontend code lives here.public/- Static assets like icons and the HTML entry point.src/components/- Reusable UI blocks (like the Clipboard area, Room selector, etc.).pages/- The main views of the app.utils/- Helper functions for encryption (e2ee.ts), clipboard access, and more.App.tsx- The main component tying everything together.
"I can't see my other device!"
- Double-check that both devices have entered the exact same Room ID.
- Ensure both devices are connected to the internet.
"The Paste button isn't doing anything."
- Security Check: Browsers only allow "one-click paste" on secure (HTTPS) connections.
- Manual Backup: If the button fails, just use the standard Ctrl+V (PC) or Long Press > Paste (Mobile) inside the paste area. It works every time!
"It says 'Disconnected' or 'Connection Lost'."
- On mobile, browsers often "sleep" tabs that are in the background to save battery. If you've been away for a while, just refresh the page to reconnect.
"I enabled encryption and now I see gibberish." (for when I introduce custom passwords)
- This happens when the passwords don't match. Make sure every device in the room is using the exact same encryption password.
"My file/image isn't sending."
- Size Limit: There is currently a ~50MB limit on files.
- Slow Uploads: If you are on a slow mobile connection, large images might take a few seconds to "pop up" on the other side.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details
Ivaylo Chernev
Inspired by copypaste.me with enhanced features for full clipboard support.