pinch

Every developer knows the frustration: you copied something important, then copied something else, and now that first thing is gone forever. I've lost code snippets, URLs, carefully-worded messages — all to the void of the single-item clipboard.

pinch solves this by keeping a history of your clipboard. It's named after the way lobsters use their pincers to grab and hold onto things — that's exactly what this tool does with your copied text.

Run `pinch watch` in a terminal and it quietly monitors your clipboard, storing everything you copy. Later, `pinch list` shows your history, and `pinch copy 3` brings that fourth item back. Simple, reliable, useful.

Cross-platform clipboard access was tricky. Different operating systems handle clipboard access differently, and some require specific permissions or tools. Using the clipboardy library helped abstract most of this, but edge cases (like running in a headless environment) still need graceful error handling.

This project reinforced the value of good naming. "pinch" immediately suggests grabbing and holding — exactly what the tool does. The lobster theme isn't just branding; it actually helps users remember and understand the tool. When your name is your documentation, you've done something right.