read_clipboardLABSCO SUMMARY
One tool that closes an annoying gap.
If your editor and shell live in WSL but your screenshots and copied stack traces live in Windows, there is normally no path between them except saving a file. This is that path, and it is a single call. Clipboard data is processed locally with no network transmission, which matters given what tends to be on a developer's clipboard.
What it is
A bridge across the WSL boundary. A small Windows executable reads the clipboard through the Win32 API; a Node server in WSL manages that process and hands the contents to the client. Images are converted to PNG and Base64-encoded on the way through.
What you get
read_clipboardreturns whatever is on the Windows clipboard, with aformatparameter of auto, text or image- Auto-detection picks the right one, so a copied screenshot and a copied error message are both just "what is in my clipboard"
- Images come back as PNG so the assistant can look at them rather than being told about them
- The helper process is kept alive between calls and restarted automatically if it dies
Requirements
WSL on Windows and Node.js 18+. The release package ships the prebuilt Windows executable and an installer script; building from source additionally needs the MinGW-w64 cross-compiler and TypeScript. CLIPBOARD_EXE_PATH must point at the clipboard reader executable and is required. The release package is named clip-to-wsl-mcp, version 1.0.0.
Setup effort
Follow the published steps — wget https://github.com/CarlosGtrz/ClipToWslMcp/releases/download/v1.0.0/clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0.zip
USE CASES
01
Showing the assistant an error you just copied
Paste by asking rather than switching windows to find the text again.
02
Getting a screenshot into the conversation
Copy the image in Windows and have it read directly as PNG from WSL.
1 tool
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
1 tool named in the project's documentation.
Requires
Node.js 18+
Where it runs
The documented client runs the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
wget https://github.com/CarlosGtrz/ClipToWslMcp/releases/download/v1.0.0/clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0.zip
unzip clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0.zip -d clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0
cd clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0/
./install.shMCP Clients
Claude Code
CLAUDE CODE · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"clip-to-wsl": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_RELEASE>/index.js"
],
"env": {
"CLIPBOARD_EXE_PATH": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_RELEASE>/clipreader.exe"
}
}
}
}<YOUR_PATH_TO_RELEASE>/ is the full path of the clip-to-wsl-mcp-v1.0.0 folder you extracted into. install.sh also writes a claude-config-example.json there with your paths filled in.
