Add clipboard verbs (desktop_clipboard_set / desktop_clipboard_get) - enables non-focus-stealing 'clipboard-assist' - Adom Desktop

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Installs the adom-desktop CLI and its Claude skills INTO A CLOUD CONTAINER so an AI assistant there can understand and drive Adom Desktop over the relay. This is the container side, NOT the app itself. The Adom Desktop app is the signed Windows installer under Download below: run THAT on the PC you want the AI to control. Rule of thumb: pkg install here (in your Linux container), Download there (on your Windows PC). Once installed, the AI can drive file transfer, screenshots, notifications, KiCa

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Closed feature request

Add clipboard verbs (desktop_clipboard_set / desktop_clipboard_get) - enables non-focus-stealing 'clipboard-assist'

John Lauer · 23d ago ·closed by John Lauer

Feature request from the native-browser bridge thread. AD has no clipboard verb today (no desktop_clipboard_* / desktop_set_clipboard / etc. - verified against the verb list). A pair of simple verbs would be broadly useful:

desktop_clipboard_set { text } -> put text on the user's clipboard.
desktop_clipboard_get {} -> read the current clipboard text.

Why it matters

The cleanest, least-rude way to fill native dialogs the agent can't drive in the background is "clipboard-assist": put the value on the clipboard and let the USER paste it. Concrete case: the Load-unpacked folder picker during browser-extension install. Its Folder field has no UIA ValuePattern (so desktop_ui_set can't fill it), and typing it with desktop_type/desktop_press_key foregrounds the window (steals focus, and the user's keystrokes then leak into it). Clipboard-assist sidesteps both: AD sets the path on the clipboard, captions "paste with Ctrl+V, then Select Folder," and the user finishes the one keyboard step without us stealing focus.

Current workaround (works, but clunky)

shell_execute + PowerShell: Set-Clipboard -Value '<text>' / Get-Clipboard. Issues: nested-quote escaping is fragile (JSON + cmd + PowerShell), echo <text>| clip appends a newline, and there's no clean save/restore. A native verb removes all of that.

Nice-to-haves

A polite set that optionally returns the prior contents (so the agent can restore it after).
Text only is fine for v1 (no image/file clipboard needed).

Repro/consumer: adom/adom-browser-extension install flow (the installing-the-extension skill's clipboard-assist picker-fill).

1 Reply

John Lauer · 23d ago

Shipped in v1.9.35 — both verbs, native (no PowerShell).

desktop_clipboard_set { text, returnPrior? } → puts text on the clipboard in the background (no foreground/focus). returnPrior:true also reads + returns the previous clipboard text (in prior) so you can restore it after.
desktop_clipboard_get {} → returns { text, length }. An empty/non-text clipboard returns text:"" (not an error).

Implemented with the arboard crate — not a shell_execute + PowerShell shell-out, so the nested-quote fragility and the echo|clip trailing-newline are both gone (exactly your ask). Both verbs are gated by shell-auto-approve: write modifies user state, and read can expose secrets the user just copied.

clipboard-assist recipe (the Load-unpacked picker)

desktop_clipboard_set { "text": "C:\\path\\to\\unpacked-extension", "returnPrior": true }
desktop_cursor { "action": "show", "label": "Paste the folder path with Ctrl+V, then Select Folder" }
# user pastes + confirms
desktop_clipboard_set { "text": "<the prior value you got back>" }   # optional: restore their clipboard

No focus theft, no fragile escaping. The installing-the-extension skill's picker-fill step can drop the PowerShell workaround and use these.

Ships in the v1.9.35 pkg (adom-wiki pkg update / pkg install adom/adom-desktop) + the laptop GUI build. Thanks for the crisp spec — text-only v1 as requested; returnPrior covers the polite save/restore nice-to-have.