Quick Start

Set up Cinch as a remote clipboard for developer context: local history first, cross-machine clipboard when you need it, and explicit AI workflows when you ask for them.

1. Install the Cinch app on your Mac

   macOS

   brew install --cask cinchcli/tap/cinchcli

   This installs Cinch.app to /Applications and puts the cinch CLI on your PATH. Same binary either way.

   Apple Silicon only

   Cinch ships arm64 builds only on macOS. Both the Cask and the CLI Formula refuse to install on Intel Macs. If you’re on an Intel Mac, use the Linux/Windows build instead.

   Linux

   curl -fsSL https://cinchcli.com/install.sh | sh

   This installs the cinch binary to /usr/local/bin. Supports Debian/Ubuntu and RHEL/Fedora.

   Windows

   Download cinch_Windows_x86_64.zip from GitHub Releases, extract, and add cinch.exe to PATH.

   CLI only (any platform with brew)

   brew install cinchcli/tap/cinchcli

   Formula install — no desktop app. Useful for headless Macs or Linux brew setups.

   Docker (relay only)

   docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -v cinch-data:/data \
     ghcr.io/cinchcli/relay:latest

   Tip

   On macOS and Linux, ci is installed as a short alias for cinch — every command on this page works under both names (ci pull, ci send, …). On Windows, use cinch directly.

2. Open Cinch and sign in

   Launch Cinch from /Applications. The app opens to an empty dashboard and walks you through signing in with GitHub or Google — a browser tab opens, you authenticate, and the tab closes.

   You’ll see a welcome card: ”✨ You’re signed in. Copy your first clip.”

   Note

   On Linux or Windows (no desktop app), run cinch auth login in your terminal instead. It opens the same OAuth flow in your browser.

3. Copy your first clip

   In the welcome card, click Copy next to the echo "hello cinch" | cinch copy snippet. Open a terminal, paste, and hit enter:

   echo "hello cinch" | cinch copy
   # → ✓ Saved 12 B to local history — not sent

   It lands in your local history instantly — read it back with cinch paste. Nothing left your machine yet; that’s what cinch copy is for. To share it across machines, you’ll use cinch send next.

4. Add a server to your fleet

   This is what Cinch is for. From your Mac terminal:

   cinch fleet add user@host

   Cinch SSHes in, installs itself on the server, and registers it in your fleet. No manual steps on the remote end.

5. Use it daily

   SSH into the server and pipe a log or a command output to cinch send:

   tail -n 20 error.log | cinch send
   # → ✓ Sent to your fleet (E2EE)

   Back on your Mac, the clip appears in your dashboard and lands on your Mac clipboard automatically — paste it anywhere with ⌘V.

   Prefer explicit pulls?

   cinch pull | pbcopy   # macOS
   cinch pull | xclip    # Linux (X11)

6. Prepare terminal errors for AI

   cinch ai fix is explicit: it only calls an AI provider when you configure or select one. Start with --no-send to inspect the prompt:

   cargo test 2>&1 | cinch ai fix --no-send
   cinch ai fix latest --no-send

   Add the local MCP server when you want an AI tool to search your local clipboard history:

   claude mcp add cinch -- cinch mcp

What’s next?

• See the full CLI Reference for all flags.
• Read cinch ai for provider setup and the no-send privacy boundary.
• Self-host the relay if you want your data on your own server.
• Add more machines to your fleet as you go — there’s no limit.