Terminal Capture Tool

README.md

📋 c_pipe

A universal macOS clipboard utility built for Zsh that bridges the gap between running terminal commands and sharing outputs.

By appending | c to any command, it streams the output live to your console screen while simultaneously generating a beautifully structured, distinct text block on your macOS system clipboard. It works identically in the native Mac Terminal, iTerm2, and VS Code's integrated terminal.

---

🚀 Usage

Simply attach | c to the end of your standard terminal workflow:

# Capture regular command output
sw_vers | c

# Capture commands that include errors (redirects stderr to stdout)
curl https://invalid-url.xyz 2>&1 | c

Clipboard Output Example

When you paste your clipboard (into Slack, GitHub, Notion, or an email), it will be formatted cleanly like this:

=== Copy Command: COMMAND ===
\$ sw_vers
=== Copy Command: OUTPUT  ===
ProductName:		macOS
ProductVersion:		14.5
BuildVersion:		23F79
=== Copy Command: END     ===

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🛠️ Installation

Option 1: Quick Install (Direct to .zshrc)

If you just want the tool quickly without managing extra files, paste the code inside c_pipe.zsh directly into the bottom of your ~/.zshrc file.

Option 2: Modular Install (Recommended for Dotfiles repos)

If you manage your configuration using a dotfiles repository or a custom functions folder:

1. Clone or save this directory into your custom configuration path (e.g., ~/.config/zsh/functions/c_pipe/).
2. Add the following safety check to your primary ~/.zshrc file to source it automatically:

# Replace the path below with the location where you saved the directory
export USER_FUNCTIONS_DIR="\$HOME/.config/zsh/functions"

if [ -f "\$USER_FUNCTIONS_DIR/c_pipe/c_pipe.zsh" ]; then
    source "\$USER_FUNCTIONS_DIR/c_pipe/c_pipe.zsh"
fi

3. Restart your terminal or run source ~/.zshrc to activate.

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🗺️ Future Roadmap (v2.0 Ideas)

• Smart Markdown Auto-Wrapping: Automatically wrap the captured payload inside markdown code blocks (```bash) for instant, syntax-highlighted pasting on Slack or GitHub.
• Automated Data Scrubbing: Use regex filters to automatically detect and replace sensitive text strings (like GitHub tokens, AWS keys, or passwords) with a [REDACTED] placeholder before it hits the clipboard.

c_pipe.zsh

# ==============================================================================
# COMMAND & OUTPUT CLIPBOARD CAPTURE UTILITY
# ==============================================================================
# DESCRIPTION:
#   A universal macOS clipboard tool designed for Mac Terminal and VS Code.
#   By appending '| c' to any command, it streams the output live to your
#   terminal screen while simultaneously generating a clearly formatted,
#   distinct block containing both the executed command and its full output
#   directly onto your Mac clipboard.
#
# USAGE:
#   [your-command] | c
#   [your-command] 2>&1 | c   (To also capture error outputs)
# ==============================================================================
c_pipe() {
  # 1. Fetch the last command from history and clean up spaces/pipes
  local last_cmd=$(fc -ln -1 | sed -E 's/[[:space:]]*\|[[:space:]]*c[[:space:]]*$//' | sed 's/^[ \t]*//')

  # 2. Create a clean structure with distinct boundaries
  {
    echo "=== Copy Command: COMMAND ==="
    echo "$ $last_cmd"
    echo "=== Copy Command: OUTPUT  ==="
  } > /tmp/pipe_capture.txt

  # 3. Stream the output live to your screen and append it to the file
  tee -a /tmp/pipe_capture.txt

  # 4. Append a closing footer for final separation
  echo "=== Copy Command: END     ===" >> /tmp/pipe_capture.txt

  # 5. Push to the macOS clipboard and clean up
  cat /tmp/pipe_capture.txt | pbcopy
  rm /tmp/pipe_capture.txt
}

# Alias shortcut for command/output capture
alias c="c_pipe"