Clipboard API

Every board is an HTTP endpoint. There is no API key, no SDK and no JSON envelope around the text - a board is a URL you can curl. That makes it a practical bridge between a machine you only reach over SSH and the browser on your desk.

All examples use the board myboard on www.clipboard2.com. Replace it with your own name; a board is created the first time it is used, so no setup call is needed. -L follows the redirect from the bare domain and is worth keeping in every command.

Read the text

		curl -L www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		Invoke-RestMethod https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		wget -qO- www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		python3 -c "import urllib.request as u;print(u.urlopen('https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text').read().decode())"
	

Returns the current text as-is, with no quoting and no trailing newline. An empty board returns an empty body. Add -w '\n' if you want your shell prompt on its own line afterwards.

Write the text

		curl -L -X POST --data "text sample" www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -ContentType 'text/plain' -Body 'text sample' https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		wget -qO- --post-data="text sample" www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text
		python3 -c "import urllib.request as u;u.urlopen(u.Request('https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text',b'text sample',{'Content-Type':'text/plain'}))"
	

A POST replaces the whole content of the board; it does not append. Every browser that has the board open sees the new text immediately.

With curl, --data sends application/x-www-form-urlencoded, which the server decodes for you - convenient for a quick line of text. For content that must arrive byte for byte, send it as plain text instead:

curl -L -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/plain" --data-binary @notes.txt www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text

Piping works the same way with --data-binary @-, which is the usual way to get command output onto a board:

tail -n 200 /var/log/app.log | curl -L -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/plain" --data-binary @- www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text

Upload files

		curl -L -F "files=@myfile.pdf" www.clipboard2.com/myboard/files
		Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Form @{files = Get-Item myfile.pdf} https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/files
		wget cannot send a file upload - use curl or PowerShell
		the standard library has no multipart helper - use curl or PowerShell
	

The field name is files and it may be repeated to upload several files in one request. The response is the board's complete file list as JSON:

[{"id":"a1b2c3d4","fileName":"report.pdf","size":13067,"expiryDate":"2026-09-11T10:37:18.605+00:00"}]

Take the id from there for downloads and deletes. expiryDate is when the file is removed automatically.

Download a file

		curl -L -OJ www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		Invoke-WebRequest -OutFile myfile.pdf https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		wget --content-disposition www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		python3 -c "import urllib.request as u;u.urlretrieve('https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4','myfile.pdf')"
	

-OJ stores the file under its original name, which the server sends in the Content-Disposition header. Without -J, curl would name the file after the ID. Every file row on the board has a button that copies this exact command, including the ID.

Delete a file

		curl -L -X DELETE www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		Invoke-RestMethod -Method Delete https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		wget --method=DELETE -qO- www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4
		python3 -c "import urllib.request as u;u.urlopen(u.Request('https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/file/a1b2c3d4',method='DELETE'))"
	

Answers 204 No Content and removes the file from the server right away, on all connected devices.

Endpoints at a glance

Errors

Upload problems come back as JSON with a stable reason code, so a script can react to them:

Rules worth knowing

• Board names are up to 32 characters of letters, digits, hyphens and underscores, and they are case sensitive.
• Content expires after 1 minutes - text and files together. A board that is only read through the API expires just the same, so a script that needs the content should fetch it, not park it.
• There is no authentication. The board name is the only secret. Generate a long random name for anything automated, the way you would a token.
• Be gentle. The service is free and shared; poll a board every few seconds at most, and use the browser if you need true real-time updates.

A shortcut worth keeping

Sending the output of a command to your desk is a one-liner, but it is a long one. Put it in your shell profile - ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or the file $PROFILE points at in PowerShell - so it is defined everywhere you work:

		clip() { curl -sL -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/plain" --data-binary @- www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text; }
		function Send-Clip { $input | Out-String | ForEach-Object { Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -ContentType 'text/plain' -Body $_ https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text } }
		clip() { wget -qO- --post-data="$(cat)" www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text >/dev/null; }
		clip() { python3 -c "import sys,urllib.request as u;u.urlopen(u.Request('https://www.clipboard2.com/myboard/text',sys.stdin.buffer.read(),{'Content-Type':'text/plain'}))"; }
	

From then on, sending anything to the board is one word at the end of a pipe:

		dmesg | tail -50 | clip
		Get-Content app.log -Tail 50 | Send-Clip
		dmesg | tail -50 | clip
		dmesg | tail -50 | clip
	

Open a board