Important

This plugin is still in the PROTOTYPE phase. Expect breaking changes

🗃️ yank-system-ops.nvim

Share file(s) between other folders, projects, and applications using native file copy & paste.

Have you ever wanted to quickly copy and paste files between the web, file explorers, chat apps, email clients, and your neovim projects? Now you can!

• ✨ Features
• ⚡️ Requirements
• 📊 Support Matrix
  • Operating System Support
  • Buffer Type Support
• 🚀 Usage
• ❓ FAQ
• 📋 Roadmap

✨ Features

🧷 Yank & Put File(s)

{
    '<leader>yy', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_files_to_clipboard()
    end, desc = 'Yank file(s) to system clipboard',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank file(s) in the current supported buffer into your native system clipboard for pasting into other applications such as Slack, Discord, and your file browser. See the FAQ for details on what can be yanked.

{
    '<leader>yp', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').put_files_from_clipboard()
    end, desc = 'Put clipboard file(s) here',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Put file(s) from your system clipboard into the current supported buffer's directory. See the FAQ for details on what can be put.

📥 Yank & Extract Archives

{
    '<leader>yz', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').zip_files_to_clipboard()
    end, desc = 'Zip file(s) to clipboard',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Compress the current supported buffer's file(s) into a .nvim.zip archive located in the configured storage_path and copy it to your system clipboard for pasting into other applications such as Slack, Discord, and your file browser.

{
    '<leader>ye', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').extract_files_from_clipboard()
    end, desc = 'Extract clipboard file here',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Extract the contents of a supported archive format from your system clipboard into the current supported buffer's directory.

📂 Yank File Path

{
    '<leader>yr', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_relative_path()
    end, desc = 'Yank relative path to file(s)',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank the cwd-relative path to the current supported buffer's file(s).

{
    '<leader>ya', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_absolute_path()
    end, desc = 'Yank absolute path to file(s)',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank the full absolute path to the current supported buffer's file(s).

🪄 Yank Markdown Codeblocks

{
    '<leader>ymc', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_codeblock()
    end, desc = 'Yank line(s) as markdown code block',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank selected line(s) into a language-tagged markdown code block for pasting into markdown supported applications.

{
    '<leader>ymd', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_diagnostics()
    end, desc = 'Yank line(s) as markdown code block w/ diagnostics',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank selected line(s) into a language-tagged markdown code block for pasting into markdown supported applications. Includes any diagnostic messages in the selected lines.

🧭 Yank GitHub URL

{
    '<leader>ygl', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').yank_github_url()
    end, desc = 'Yank current line(s) as GitHub URL',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Yank a GitHub URL for the current line(s) in the current supported buffer. This respects the current branch. Note: This only works for files that are part of a git-tracked repository and hosted on GitHub. This will also not copy URLs for which there are pending commits/changes.

🌐 Open in File Browser

{
    '<leader>yo', function()
        require('yank_system_ops').open_buffer_in_file_manager()
    end, desc = 'Open current buffer in system file browser',
    mode = { 'n', 'v' }
},

Open the current supported buffer's file(s) in your system's file explorer. The explorer used depends on your OS.

⚡️ Requirements

• All Platforms:

  • Neovim 0.10+
  • Git - for GitHub URL and contextual archive naming support
  • Curl or Wget for putting URI(s) from the web
  • 7zip binary (either 7z or 7zz) for archive creation and extraction. MacOS users will probably want brew install sevenzip.

• Windows:

  • tbd

• MacOS:

  • pngpaste for better clipboard image support
  • xcode-select --install for swift command support

• Linux:

  • Wayland:
    • wl-clipboard clipboard manager
  • X11:
    • xclip or xsel clipboard manager

📊 Support Matrix

✅️ = Supported | ❌ = Not Yet Supported | ⚠️ = Untested

yank-system-ops.nvim needs to interact with your operating system clipboard, cli tools, and active neovim buffers to provide its functionality. Below is a support matrix for various operating systems and buffer types. All listed items are planned to be supported.

Operating System Support

Operating System	Yank Files	Put Files	Yank as Archive	Extract Archive	Put Web URI	Put Image	Open in File Browser
Windows	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
MacOS	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Linux (Wayland)	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Linux (X11)	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️

Buffer Type Support

Buffer Type	Supported	Notes
Default	✅	Operates on the open file and it's directory
Netrw	✅	Operates on all files and folders in the current directory
Mini.files	✅	Operates on all files and folders in the current directory
Oil	✅	Operates on all files and folders in the current directory

🚀 Usage

Once you've installed the ⚡️ Requirements, you can use the example below to configure yank-system-ops.nvim:

Lazy.nvim

return {
    'frosthaven/yank-system-ops.nvim',
    dependencies = { 'frosthaven/native-clipboard.nvim' },
    enabled = true,
    lazy = false, -- currently does not support lazy loading
    opts = {
        storage_path = vim.fn.expand '~/Downloads', -- path to store archives
        files_to_keep = 3, -- automatically delete older *.nvim.zip archives
        debug = false,
    },
    keys = {
        -- 🧷 yank & put file(s) ----------------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>yy', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_files_to_clipboard()
            end, desc = 'Yank file(s) to system clipboard',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        {
            '<leader>yp', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').put_files_from_clipboard()
            end, desc = 'Put clipboard file(s) here',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        -- 📥 yank & extract archives -----------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>yz', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').zip_files_to_clipboard()
            end, desc = 'Zip file(s) to clipboard',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        {
            '<leader>ye', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').extract_files_from_clipboard()
            end, desc = 'Extract clipboard file here',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        -- 📂 yank file path --------------------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>yr', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_relative_path()
            end, desc = 'Yank relative path to file(s)',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        {
            '<leader>ya', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_absolute_path()
            end, desc = 'Yank absolute path to file(s)',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        -- 🪄 yank markdown codeblocks ----------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>ymc', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_codeblock()
            end, desc = 'Yank line(s) as markdown code block',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        {
            '<leader>ymd', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_diagnostics()
            end, desc = 'Yank line(s) as markdown code block w/ diagnostics',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        -- 🧭 yank gitHub url -------------------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>ygl', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').yank_github_url()
            end, desc = 'Yank current line(s) as GitHub URL',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },
        -- 🌐 open in file browser --------------------------------------------
        {
            '<leader>yo', function()
                require('yank_system_ops').open_buffer_in_file_manager()
            end, desc = 'Open current buffer in system file browser',
            mode = { 'n', 'v' }
        },

    }
}

❓ FAQ

What can I yank to the clipboard?

Buffer Type	Details
Default Buffers	The current file is copied to the clipboard. You may also yank the current file into an archive (ending in .nvim.zip) which gets copied to your clipboard. This can then be pasted into other applications such as Slack, Discord, and your file browser.
Directory Buffers	All files and folders in the current directory are copied to the clipboard. You may also yank all files and folders in the current directory into an archive (ending in .nvim.zip) which gets copied to your clipboard. These can then be pasted into other applications such as Slack, Discord, and your file browser.
Other Applications	Files and folders, images, svg source code, archives, and web URIs (such as from your web browser).

What can I put from the clipboard?

Source Type	Details
System Files/Folders	Files and folders copied using yank-system-ops.nvim or other applications (such as your OS's native file explorer) will be pasted into the current buffer's active directory.
Images	An image copied to your clipboard from other applications or screenshot tools will be saved as a .png file in the current buffer's active directory. If you have SVG source code in your clipboard (e.g., from Lucide Icons or Figma assets), it will be saved as a .svg file.
Web URIs	A file will be downloaded from the web URI and saved in the current buffer's active directory. Common file types are automatically detected (see next FAQ).
Archives	7z supported archive formats can be put as files or extracted to the current buffer's active directory.

What File Types are automatically detected with Web URI puts?

These are some of the supported file types that are automatically detected when putting web URIs. If the file type cannot be detected, the file will be saved with a .bin extension:

File Type	Details
Images	.png, .jpg, .gif, .webp, .svg
Archives	.zip
Documents	.pdf
Markup	.html, .xml, .json

You can browse the download handler to learn more.

How does this add native clipboard support on multiple platforms?

Each platform handles the system clipboard vastly different from one another. To bridge this gap, yank-system-ops.nvim uses a combination of cli tools and native OS commands to provide a consistent experience across platforms. Below is a high-level overview of how each platform is supported:

• Windows: Relies on powershell commands to interact with the clipboard.
• MacOS: Relies on bash, osascript, and swift scripts to interact with the clipboard.
• Linux (Wayland): Relies on bash, wl-clipboard, and xclip or xsel to interact with the clipboard.

By leveraging abstractions from these underlying tools and commands, yank-system-ops.nvim can effectively interact with the system clipboard on various operating systems, allowing users to seamlessly copy and paste files, images, and URIs between Neovim and other applications.

In addition, yank-system-ops.nvim uses the 7zip cli tool. Because it is available on all major platforms, we can provide a consistent experience when creating and extracting archives.

Why did you make this?

As a developer, I live in Neovim. The rest of the workforce does not.

I often found myself needing to quickly share files over Slack, Discord, email, and other applications. Sometimes I'd need to point fellow developers to specific lines in a GitHub repo. Other times I need to download project assets from either Figma or an icon provider like Lucide Icons.

All of these tasks required me to leave Neovim, navigate to my file explorer, and then find the file(s) I needed and do something with them like an animal.

Now I can just yank and put like a civilized human being.

📋 Roadmap

• Initial prototype on Linux (Wayland)
• Complete MacOS support
• Complete Windows support
• Finish frosthaven/native-clipboard.nvim
• Integrate with frosthaven/native-clipboard.nvim
• Add setup opts for notifications, archive format, naming, etc.
• Add UI for narrowing file/folder selection when yanking/archiving
• Add buffer registry for runtime addition of buffer support
• Look into supporting tree-style file explorers