A lightweight desktop tool for typing text character-by-character into virtual machines and remote sessions where regular clipboard paste doesn't work.
Inspired by a 19-line AutoIt script that did exactly one thing well — and modernized into a full Tauri app with an animated Yeti mascot.
- Character-by-character paste — Types text into the active window one keystroke at a time, bypassing VM clipboard limitations
- Animated Yeti — Eyes follow your cursor as you type, covers its eyes when you mask sensitive input
- Auto-clear timer — Automatically clears text after paste with a countdown animation (Yeti blows it away)
- Auto-paste clipboard on focus — Automatically loads clipboard content when the window gains focus
- Mask toggle — Hide sensitive text (password mode)
- Two keyboard modes — Unicode (all characters) and VKey/Scancode (for nested VDI/remote sessions)
- Target layout selection — EN-US scancode mapping for typing on remote systems with English keyboard layouts from non-English local systems
- Single & multi-line input — Switch between single-line and multi-line (scripts, configs)
- Global hotkey — Configurable shortcut to show the window from any application
- Optional double-click trigger — Wait for your own double-click in the target window before typing, to select and overwrite a word
- Settings — General, Smart Actions (auto-clear, auto-paste), Hotkey & Mouse, Typing (keyboard mode, target layout, key-press delay), always-on-top, autostart, start minimized
- System tray — Close to tray, tray menu with quick access
- Lightweight — ~5MB Tauri app (vs 150MB+ Electron)
npm install
npx tauri devnpx tauri buildThe installer will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/.
- Launch Virtual Copy Paste
- Type or paste your text into the input field
- Click Paste to Target (or press
Enter,Ctrl+Enterin multi-line mode) - Click in the target window when prompted
- Text will be typed character-by-character
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Enter |
Paste to target (single-line mode) |
Ctrl+Enter |
Paste to target (multi-line mode) |
Escape |
Hide window to tray |
Ctrl+Shift+V |
Show window (default, configurable) |
- Frontend: HTML/CSS/JS + GSAP for SVG animation
- Backend: Rust + Tauri v2
- Keyboard: Windows SendInput API (Unicode + VKey/Scancode)
- Plugins: tauri-plugin-global-shortcut, tauri-plugin-store, tauri-plugin-autostart, tauri-plugin-clipboard-manager
Virtual Copy Paste is free and, for now, Windows-only. I'm saving up for a paid Apple Developer Program membership (99 USD/year) — it's required for the code signing and notarization needed to ship a proper macOS build. If this tool saves you time, a coffee helps fund the macOS port:
- Yeti SVG animation originally by Darin Senneff (MIT via CodePen)
- Adapted from William Lam's vYetti
- Evolved from a 19-line AutoIt script into a modern desktop app
MIT — see LICENSE.
Third-party components (GSAP, Yeti animation): see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.
