Glossary

What is clipboard api?

The browser interface for reading and writing the system clipboard.

Writing to the clipboard is allowed from a user gesture such as a click. Reading is stricter and usually needs an explicit permission.

That asymmetry exists because silent clipboard reads would expose whatever you last copied, including passwords.

Tools that hand you text to paste yourself are using the permissive write path and avoiding read access entirely.

In practice

A copy button works without prompting you; a paste-from-clipboard feature generally does prompt.

Common questions

What does clipboard api mean in one sentence?: The browser interface for reading and writing the system clipboard.
Why does clipboard api matter when you use Claude or ChatGPT?: Tools that hand you text to paste yourself are using the permissive write path and avoiding read access entirely.
Can you give an example of clipboard api?: A copy button works without prompting you; a paste-from-clipboard feature generally does prompt.

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