Privacy and Security

Privacy & Security

CyberPaste is designed with privacy as a core principle. All data stays local on your machine, with multiple features to protect sensitive information.

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Local-First Architecture

Data Storage

All clipboard data is stored locally:

• Database: SQLite at %APPDATA%\CyberPaste\cyber_paste.db
• No cloud sync: Data never leaves your machine
• No analytics: Zero telemetry or usage tracking
• No account required: No sign-up, no server communication

What Stays Local

What Leaves Your Machine

The only data that leaves your machine is:

• AI requests — Clip content sent to your configured AI provider
• Update checks — Version check against the GitHub Releases update feed

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Ignored Applications

Why Ignore Applications?

Some applications handle sensitive data that shouldn't be stored in clipboard history:

• Password managers (KeePass, Bitwarden, 1Password)
• Banking applications
• Medical records software
• Any app with confidential information

How to Ignore Applications

1. Go to Settings → General → Ignored applications
2. Add the executable to the list

Ignore Matching

CyberPaste checks both:

• Process name — e.g., keepass.exe
• Full executable path — e.g., C:\Program Files\KeePass\keepass.exe

Matching is case-insensitive.

When an ignored app is the source of a clipboard event:

• The clip is not stored
• No notification is shown
• The clipboard event is silently discarded

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Automatic Clipboard Noise Filtering

CyberPaste automatically discards empty clipboard-clear events, whitespace-only text and RTF payloads that contain no meaningful content. The check runs before a history entry is created, is always active and has no Settings toggle. It examines the content itself, so a valid clip is not rejected merely because Windows cannot identify its source application. See Clipboard Engine.

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Data Retention

Automatic Deletion

• History limit — Only the N most recent clips are kept (slider 50 – 1000, default 300)
• Clips older than 30 days are auto-deleted (fixed backend default)

What Is Protected from Auto-Delete

• Pinned clips — Never deleted automatically

Manual Deletion

• Delete individual clips (Delete key or context menu)
• Bulk delete multiple clips
• Clear all history (Settings → Maintenance, with confirmation; also in the title-bar menu)

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Database Security

No Encryption at Rest

The SQLite database is a standard, unencrypted file:

• Can be opened with any SQLite browser
• The AI API key is stored in plain text in %APPDATA%\me.cybergems.cyberpaste\settings.json
• For sensitive environments, consider OS-level protection (BitLocker, standard user account permissions)

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Export and Backup

Export Data

Export a full backup (clips, folders, images, settings, and local progress):

1. Go to Settings → Maintenance → Backup & Restore
2. Click Export backup

You can also use Save As on an individual clip or content viewer. These exports stay local and do not modify the original clip.

Import Data

1. Go to Settings → Maintenance → Backup & Restore
2. Click Import backup and confirm

The backup format is standard JSON and can be processed by other tools. Older backups without a progress snapshot remain importable and do not erase existing local progress.

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AI Privacy

When using AI features:

• Only the selected clip content is sent (as the user message, with your prompt as the system message)
• No history or metadata is included
• Communication is direct between your machine and the AI provider
• For maximum privacy, use local Ollama models

API Key Storage

AI provider API keys are:

• Stored locally only, in plain text inside the settings file
• Never transmitted except to the provider's API
• Removable at any time (clear the field in Settings → AI)