Every statement on this page was checked against the source code, and the code that enforces it is named next to it. Where ClipVault cannot protect you, this page says so.
Not policies someone has to remember: each one is held in place by a check or a test that fails the build.
Only one file in the program, net.py, may open a connection, and its one function, get_json(url, allowed), has no argument that could carry a request body. There is no code path that uploads a clip, because there is nothing to upload it with.
Enforced by scripts/check_network.py on every push: the build fails if any other module imports a networking library, or if the gateway gains a data, body, payload, content or text argument.
The program has no usage statistics, crash reporting or analytics. A telemetry field survives in the settings file, but nothing reads it to send anything, and Config.normalize() forces it to false every time the settings are loaded or saved, whatever the file says.
src/clipvault/config.py — every load and save passes through normalize().
Both are off in a new installation, and ClipVault asks on first run. Say no and it never opens a connection. Say yes and once a day it makes a single HTTPS GET for a small version file — no body, no cookies, no identifier; the only header it adds names ClipVault and its version. Plain HTTP and redirects are refused, and an answer larger than 64 KB is thrown away.
net.get_json, updates.fetch. An organisation can switch both off with the DisableUpdateCheck and DisablePromos policies.
The version file is something the program fetched, not something it trusts. Its link is kept only if it is a path on the ClipVault site or an https address on the same host, so a tampered file cannot send you to a look-alike download. The version number is accepted only as digits and dots, so it cannot carry a message either.
updates.official_link, updates.clean_version — applied to the cached copy too.
Everything in the upper box happens on your PC, under your Windows account. The lower box is the program's only network path, and it has no access to your clips.
Gate. A clip its app marked “do not record” — the standard markers KeePass, 1Password and Bitwarden set — is not even read. A clip from an excluded app is dropped before it is stored; the default list covers password managers and Korean banking security modules. Organisation policy can add apps and turn image or file capture off. win/clipboard.read, Vault._gate
Fail-closed encryption. A credential is encrypted with Windows DPAPI and its text removed, so it never reaches the search index. If DPAPI is unavailable or fails, the clip is dropped rather than kept in the clear. Vault._protect
Storage. On first run the folder stops inheriting permissions and your account is granted access explicitly, so a change to a parent folder cannot widen it. Credentials are de-duplicated with a keyed hash, so the database holds no guessable fingerprint of the value. win/acl.harden_once, Vault._dedupe_key
Paste. ClipVault returns focus to the window you came from and checks again that it is in front right before sending Ctrl+V. If it cannot confirm that, it sends nothing and the clip waits on the clipboard for you. A credential it puts on the clipboard carries the “do not record” markers itself, so Windows clipboard history and other managers skip it. actions.deliver, win/exclusions.exclusion_payloads
Wipe. After you paste a credential, the clipboard is emptied after 30 seconds by default — but only if nothing new has been copied since. actions.clear_if_unchanged
Network. The request is made by a function that takes an address and your consent and nothing else, so no clip data is within its reach. It refuses plain HTTP and redirects, and discards answers over 64 KB. net.py, updates.fetch
A local program can make some attacks harder. It cannot make a compromised Windows account safe, and claiming otherwise would teach you to rely on the wrong thing.
This is the same boundary the program states in Admin console → Security: the encryption guarantees that the database file on its own cannot be read, and no more.
Detection labels a clip; it never deletes one. A clip labelled as a credential is encrypted and masked. Storing it is refused only if you, or your organisation's policy, turn that on.
A label with a value — “password:”, “비밀번호:”, “contraseña=” and the word for password in all twelve languages the app ships, fullwidth colons included. Also addresses of the form scheme://user:password@host.
Known formats from OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, GitHub, GitLab, npm, SendGrid, AWS, Slack and Google; labelled values such as api_key= or client_secret:; .env lines such as DB_PASSWORD=; Azure connection-string keys.
Slack and Discord webhook addresses, which are credentials in themselves.
PEM private key blocks.
Three base64url segments beginning with eyJ.
13 to 19 digits that pass the Luhn check. Placeholder runs such as 0000 0000 0000 0000 are ignored.
Checked against the date and the check digit.
Labelled as personal data, but not encrypted: people copy them on purpose.
Detection runs on every copy, so a slow pattern would freeze the hotkey. Every repetition in every pattern has an upper limit, and the tests feed 14 adversarial inputs and fail if quadrupling an input multiplies the time by more than eight — the signature of catastrophic backtracking. Only the first 1,000,000 characters of a clip are scanned, and the program never stores more text than it scans.
sensitive.DETECT_LIMIT, Config.normalize, tests/test_security.py
IT departments can enforce settings with Group Policy or Intune under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\ClipVault. The machine and user policy keys are both read and the stricter value wins; standard users cannot write to either.
ADMX with English and Korean ADML, plus a guide to every value. Works with Group Policy and with Intune's ADMX import.
Download ClipVault-policy.zipFewer parts means fewer places for someone else's code to get in.
ClipVaultscripts/check_stdlib_only.py reads every import and fails the build on anything else.scripts/check_network.py keeps networking inside net.py and keeps any body argument out of it.ClipVault.exe is signed by PROJECTTEAMFORYOU through Azure Artifact Signing. To check, right-click the file → Properties → Digital Signatures. When signing is set up, the build refuses to finish unsigned, and the signature is verified again before the files leave the build machine.
The website counts downloads so we can see which files are used. It keeps a tally, not a log.
Resumed downloads and crawlers are not counted, and the program's update check is not counted at all — agreeing to a version check is not agreeing to be counted. deploy/cloudflare/lib/downloads.js
Clicks on our own ads — on this website, or in the program’s news if you turned news on — are tallied the same way: date, ad and country. The program never shows ads in the popup and never shows anyone else’s ads. deploy/cloudflare/lib/ads.js
Please report it privately by email, so that it can be fixed before it is public.
Our goal is to acknowledge a report within 3 business days and to agree a fix and a disclosure date with you. This is a goal, not a guarantee: ClipVault is made by a small team.
clipvault-cli --version) and your Windows versionPlease do not send real passwords or other people's clipboard data, and test only on computers and accounts that are yours.
There is no paid bug bounty. If you would like, we will thank you by name in the release notes.