cinch.vim

Vim/Neovim plugin for Cinch — Your clipboard. Across every machine.

Yank in Vim → available on every machine running Cinch.

Requirements

• Vim 8.0+ or Neovim 0.5+
• cinch CLI installed and authenticated (see below)

Install the cinch CLI

brew install cinchcli/tap/cinch    # macOS (Apple Silicon) / Linux (ARM)
cargo install cinch-cli            # any platform with a Rust toolchain

Other platforms: prebuilt binaries on the releases page. After install, run cinch auth login once. Full guide: cinchcli.com/docs/quick-start.

Install the plugin

Vim 8 / Neovim native packages

Vim:

git clone https://github.com/cinchcli/cinch.vim \
  ~/.vim/pack/cinch/start/cinch.vim
vim -u NONE -c "helptags ~/.vim/pack/cinch/start/cinch.vim/doc" -c q

Neovim:

git clone https://github.com/cinchcli/cinch.vim \
  ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/cinch/start/cinch.vim
nvim -u NONE -c "helptags ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/cinch/start/cinch.vim/doc" -c q

lazy.nvim

{ "cinchcli/cinch.vim" }

vim-plug

Plug 'cinchcli/cinch.vim'

Usage

You don't have to learn new keys. Any normal yank pushes automatically:

Action	Result
yy, yw, yiw, y$ …	Auto-push yanked text to the relay
:CinchPull	Pull latest clip from the relay into the " register
:CinchPullFrom {device}	Pull latest clip from a specific device (tab-completes)
:CinchPush	Manually push the " register to the relay
:CinchToggle	Toggle auto-push on/off for this session
:CinchHistory[!]	Browse and paste from history (! fetches 200 instead of 50)
:CinchStatus	Show auth, last push/pull, and auto-push state

Want explicit "push this, don't push that" control instead of auto-push? See Opt-in yc mappings below.

Configuration

All options are plain Vim globals — set them before the plugin loads in any plugin manager.

Variable	Default	Purpose
g:cinch_auto_push	1	Push automatically on yank
g:cinch_push_register	'"'	Register that triggers auto-push
g:cinch_binary	'cinch'	Path to the CLI
g:cinch_default_source	''	If set, plain :CinchPull pulls --from <src>
g:cinch_pull_exclude_self	0	If 1, plain :CinchPull adds --exclude-self
g:cinch_default_mappings	0	Set to 1 to install the yc/ycc/yC mappings (off by default — auto-push covers most cases)
g:cinch_picker	'auto'	auto | snacks | fzf-lua | telescope | builtin
g:cinch_verbose	0	0 silent, 1 echo, 2 debug

lazy.nvim

{
  "cinchcli/cinch.vim",
  init = function()
    -- Optional: turn off auto-push and use the system clipboard register instead.
    -- vim.g.cinch_auto_push = 0
    -- vim.g.cinch_push_register = "+"
  end,
  cmd = { "CinchPush", "CinchPull", "CinchPullFrom", "CinchToggle", "CinchHistory", "CinchStatus" },
  keys = {
    { "<leader>cp", "<cmd>CinchPull<cr>",    desc = "Cinch pull" },
    { "<leader>cP", "<cmd>CinchPush<cr>",    desc = "Cinch push" },
    { "<leader>ct", "<cmd>CinchToggle<cr>",  desc = "Cinch toggle auto-push" },
    { "<leader>ch", "<cmd>CinchHistory<cr>", desc = "Cinch history" },
  },
}

vim-plug

Plug 'cinchcli/cinch.vim'

" Optional: turn off auto-push and use the system clipboard register instead.
" let g:cinch_auto_push = 0
" let g:cinch_push_register = '+'

nnoremap <leader>cp <cmd>CinchPull<cr>
nnoremap <leader>cP <cmd>CinchPush<cr>
nnoremap <leader>ct <cmd>CinchToggle<cr>
nnoremap <leader>ch <cmd>CinchHistory<cr>

Opt-in yc mappings

By default, cinch.vim does not install any new normal-mode keys — your existing yank muscle memory (yy, yw, yiw, …) is enough, because auto-push sends every yank to the relay.

If you'd rather push explicitly (one keystroke = one push, instead of every yank silently going over the wire), opt in to the yc operator family:

let g:cinch_default_mappings = 1    " enables: yc{motion}, ycc, yC, visual yc

This pairs naturally with let g:cinch_auto_push = 0 — yanks stay local, and only yc-prefixed yanks push to the relay.

You can also bind individual actions to any key you like via <Plug> maps — see :help cinch-mappings for the full list.

See :help cinch for the full list of commands, <Plug> mappings, and the Lua API.

Beyond Vim

cinch.vim covers the editor-side workflow (push, pull, history). For everything else — authentication, pairing new machines, pinning clips, full-text search, device management, retention — use the cinch CLI directly:

cinch auth login | logout | status
cinch pair user@remotehost
cinch search "<query>"          # full-text search across all clips
cinch pin <clip-id> | unpin <clip-id> | pinned
cinch devices | nickname | revoke

Run cinch --help or see the CLI docs for the full surface.

Note on history search: :CinchHistory loads the last 50 clips (or 200 with :CinchHistory!) and lets your picker fuzzy-filter that window. It does not call cinch search, so older clips won't appear. For full-history search, shell out to :!cinch search "<query>".

License

MIT