copy-button

Ctrl+click to copy any code block in Claude Code. One click, exact text, straight to your clipboard. Works in WSL with Windows Terminal, and on Linux desktops (X11 and Wayland) with nothing extra to install.

Normal mode only (Claude Code's default renderer, not fullscreen). You Ctrl+click the link. Runs in WSL + Windows Terminal and on Linux desktops; anywhere else it stays out of the way. See Where it works.

Why

Copying a code block out of Claude Code in the terminal is annoying:

• Mouse selection grabs the indent, splits long lines where they wrapped, and drags along whatever is next to the block.
• /copy copies the last reply (or lets you pick from it), so for a block further up you have to count back with /copy N.

With this mod every code block gets a small box with a ⧉ copy link in the corner. Ctrl+click it and the block is on your clipboard, exactly as written, no matter how far up it is.

Install

In Claude Code (terminal):

/plugin install copy-button --marketplace GeckoKing9/claude-code-copy-button

Answer y to add the marketplace and pick the user scope. That's it, it is active right away. Needs Claude Code 2.1.287 or later (the version that added mods).

Nothing else to install, on Linux either. If you have wl-copy, xclip or xsel it uses that; if not, it copies with its own small helper, which only needs the Python and X11 library every Linux desktop already ships.

If Claude Code opens fullscreen for you (newer installs can), switch to normal mode with /tui default. In fullscreen the mod steps aside.

Where it works

| Setup | Status | |---|---| | WSL 2 + Windows Terminal, normal mode | Yes. Tested. | | Linux, X11 (tested: Xubuntu 24.04, xfce4-terminal) | Yes. Tested with a real Ctrl+click, with xclip and with no clipboard tool at all. | | Linux, Wayland | Yes. Tested in a Weston session, with wl-copy and with no clipboard tool at all. GNOME and KDE on Wayland not tested yet. | | Other Linux terminals (GNOME Terminal, Konsole, kitty...) | Should work if the terminal opens file: links on Ctrl+click. Only xfce4-terminal is tested. | | Bare window managers (i3, sway...) | Probably not: there xdg-open guesses the file type from its content, so the click opens the block in a text editor. | | SSH sessions, including ssh -X | No, on purpose: the links would point at the remote machine. | | Fullscreen renderer | No. The mod steps aside and the reply is drawn as usual. | | VS Code terminal, other Windows terminals | No. They open file: links their own way. | | macOS | Not yet. The mod draws nothing and runs nothing. |

macOS would need its own click handler (a file type that runs pbcopy). Happy to take a PR from someone who can test it on a real Mac.

How it works

Normal mode has no click events. The one click you get is the terminal's own Ctrl+click on a link. So:

1. When a reply arrives, each code block is saved to its own .ccopy file.
2. The reply is drawn with a box around each block and a copy link to that file.
3. The mod registers a .ccopy file type for your user (no admin, no sudo) whose handler puts the file's text on the clipboard.

| | WSL | Linux | |---|---|---| | Files | %LOCALAPPDATA%\claude-copy | ~/.local/share/claude-copy ($XDG_DATA_HOME) | | File type | HKCU\Software\Classes\.ccopy | shared-mime type application/x-claude-copy + a hidden .desktop entry, set as its default app | | Handler | windows/copy.vbs (Windows clip) | linux/copy.sh: wl-copy, xclip or xsel when installed, otherwise linux/clip.py |

On Linux a click fills both places Linux pastes from: the clipboard (Ctrl+V, or Ctrl+Shift+V in a terminal) and the primary selection (middle-click, Shift+Insert). Whichever way you paste, you get the block.

clip.py does what xclip does, through the X11 library directly: it holds the copied text in a small background process until you copy something else, then exits. On Wayland desktops it goes through their X11 layer (Xwayland), whose clipboard is shared with Wayland apps.

Why a custom extension instead of linking a script: Windows Terminal warns before opening anything in PATHEXT (.vbs, .cmd...). .ccopy isn't in it, so the click is silent.

Session folders are deleted two days after the session was last used.

What it touches

Read this before installing anything that runs scripts, including this.

WSL

• Files: %LOCALAPPDATA%\claude-copy (your code blocks, one folder per session, and a copy of copy.vbs).
• Registry: HKCU\Software\Classes\.ccopy and HKCU\Software\Classes\ClaudeCopy (current user only, no admin).
• Commands: cmd.exe once to find %LOCALAPPDATA%, wslpath, reg.exe to check the file type each session (and add it when missing), rm to prune old session folders.

Linux

• Files: ~/.local/share/claude-copy (code blocks, copy.sh, clip.py), ~/.local/share/mime/packages/claude-copy.xml, ~/.local/share/applications/claude-copy.desktop, and one line in ~/.config/mimeapps.list (written by xdg-mime).
• Commands: uname, xdg-mime, update-mime-database, update-desktop-database, chmod on its own script, sh to check what can copy, rm to prune old session folders. On a click: your clipboard tool, or python3 clip.py.
• Notice: if nothing on the system can copy (no clipboard tool, and no Python or X11 library), it says so once per session with the install command for your system. Otherwise it never prints anything.

Both

• Checked each session and repaired if something removed it. All of it runs in the background; drawing only ever waits (up to 2 seconds) for the mod to find its folder at the start of a session.
• Network: none.

The handler (windows/copy.vbs, linux/copy.sh) only copies .ccopy files from its own folder, so a stray .ccopy file from a download or a web page can't replace your clipboard. Errors go to the Claude Code debug log (claude --debug).

Heads up for Windows: Microsoft is phasing VBScript out. If it gets removed on your machine the click stops working until the script is replaced.

Uninstall

1. /plugin uninstall copy-button

2. Remove the file type and the files.

   WSL:

   reg.exe delete 'HKCU\Software\Classes\.ccopy' /f
   reg.exe delete 'HKCU\Software\Classes\ClaudeCopy' /f
   rm -rf "$(wslpath "$(cmd.exe /c 'echo %LOCALAPPDATA%' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r')")/claude-copy"
   

   Linux:

   d=${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}
   rm -rf "$d/claude-copy" "$d/applications/claude-copy.desktop" "$d/mime/packages/claude-copy.xml"
   update-mime-database "$d/mime"
   sed -i '/x-claude-copy/d' "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/mimeapps.list"
   

Known limits

• A reply that starts with a code block shows no bullet dot in front of it.
• Markdown that spans a code block (a reference link defined on the other side of one, a list item continued with 4+ spaces after one) can render differently than without the mod, since the reply is drawn in pieces.
• A reply drawn in the first moments of a session waits up to 2 seconds for the mod to find its folder; if that takes longer, that one reply has no box.

Develop

git clone https://github.com/GeckoKing9/claude-code-copy-button
claude --plugin-dir ./claude-code-copy-button
claude plugin test ./claude-code-copy-button

MIT license.