Maccy + Raycast in 2026: How to Run Both Without Stepping on Each Other

Quick answer: Raycast already ships its own clipboard history, so you don’t need Maccy to use Raycast. Plenty of people still run both. Maccy App handles the clipboard (fast, free, open source, local), and Raycast handles launching, window management, snippets and scripts. The setup that works is one tool owning each job, separate hotkeys, and sensitive apps excluded from both.

Do you actually need both?

Not necessarily. Raycast’s manual describes a built-in Clipboard History that tracks text, images, files, links, emails and colors. It supports pinning, type filters and an excluded-apps list. If you already live in Raycast and your needs are modest, stop here and skip Maccy Mac.

The case for adding Maccy Clipboard comes down to three things:

• Scope. Maccy does one job and has no account, no extension store and no AI layer. If you want the clipboard to be a boring, auditable utility, that’s the appeal.
• Openness. Maccy is MIT-licensed, so you can read exactly what it does with your data. Its README says the official site is maccy.app and warns about fake lookalike domains distributing malware.
• Independence. If Raycast is closed, crashes or gets uninstalled on a work machine, your clipboard history doesn’t go with it.

The case against: it’s one more menu bar app and one more hotkey to remember. Don’t add it just because a blog post said to.

Who should own what?

The cleanest way to avoid overlap is to assign each job to one tool and stick to it.

Rule of thumb: if you’d paste it more than a few times a week, it belongs in a Snippet, not in clipboard history. History is for “what did I copy ten minutes ago?”, not for permanent storage.

How do you set up the two without conflicts?

1. Install Maccy and check the requirement. Download it from maccy.app or the GitHub releases page, or run brew install maccy. Version 2.x needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later. On older macOS, you’ll need a 1.x build.
2. Grant Accessibility access. The project README says Maccy must be listed under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility for pasting to work. Restart Maccy after granting it.
3. Pick distinct hotkeys. Keep Maccy on ⇧⌘C (its default) or change it in Maccy’s settings. Keep your Raycast launcher hotkey as it is. If you also assign a Raycast hotkey to Clipboard History, you now have two clipboard UIs and will use the wrong one by reflex. Leave that command unbound.
4. Stop Raycast recording the clipboard, if you’re committing to Maccy. Raycast’s Clipboard History has a Disable Applications list, but there’s no obvious “off” switch for the whole feature . The practical option is to simply not use it. If privacy is the reason you want it off, check whether the command can be disabled under Raycast Settings → Extensions .
5. Exclude sensitive sources in both. In Raycast, use Clipboard History → Disable Applications. In Maccy, use the Ignore settings . Password managers should be on both lists, though both apps already attempt to respect concealed-clipboard markers from password managers.

Where do the two actually work together?

Snippets for what history can’t do

Clipboard history is temporary by nature. Raycast Snippets are permanent and triggered by a keyword you choose. Use them for the text you keep re-finding in history. Maccy covers the recent past, and Snippets cover the stable stuff.

A Script Command to pause Maccy

Maccy’s README documents a preference that makes it ignore all copies:

defaults write org.p0deje.Maccy ignoreEvents true   # default is false

Wrap that in a Raycast Script Command and you get a one-keystroke “private mode” for screen shares or sensitive copy sessions:

#!/bin/bash

# @raycast.schemaVersion 1
# @raycast.title Maccy: Pause Recording
# @raycast.mode silent
# @raycast.icon ⏸

defaults write org.p0deje.Maccy ignoreEvents true
echo "Maccy paused"

Make a twin script that sets the value to false. Whether Maccy picks up the change live or needs a restart depends on the version . Test it before you rely on it. The README also notes that holding ⌥ while clicking Maccy’s menu bar icon toggles the same behavior, which is the fallback if the script doesn’t take effect.

Window Management plus clipboard, as one motion

A common developer or writer loop is to copy something in one window, snap a second window beside it, then paste. With Raycast handling window layouts and Maccy handling history, that’s ⌘C, a window command, then ⇧⌘C to search and paste. None of it needs the mouse.

Quicklinks for the tools you paste into

Quicklinks open a URL or app on a keyword. They’re useful for the destinations you paste into constantly, like an issue tracker’s “new ticket” page or an internal form.

What are the downsides?

• Two apps recording your copies. If both are active, everything you copy is stored twice, in two places, with two different retention rules. That’s worse for privacy than either alone.
• Pins drift. Pin things in both and you won’t remember where anything is.
• Raycast isn’t fully local-first. It offers accounts, cloud sync and AI features. Whether a given feature sends data off your Mac depends on the feature and your settings. If local-only is the goal, read the privacy settings rather than assuming.
• Raycast’s free and paid tiers differ on things like history length and AI access. Check the current plan page rather than relying on an older blog post, including this one.
• Global shortcut collisions. ⇧⌘C is claimed by some apps for their own commands. Maccy’s README suggests that shortcuts producing a character (like ⌥C giving “ç”) may be blocked by macOS in password fields, so avoid Option-only combos.

Should you use Raycast’s built-in clipboard instead?

If you want fewer moving parts, yes. If you want a clipboard tool that stays out of your way and does nothing else, use Maccy. If you use both, make sure only one has a hotkey.

A sensible default setup

Start with Raycast alone and use its clipboard history for two weeks. If you find yourself wanting something simpler or more private, install Maccy, leave Raycast’s clipboard command unbound, and keep Raycast for everything else. You’ll know within a day whether the second app earns its menu bar slot.

Do you currently keep a “private mode” for your clipboard, or do you just clear history when something sensitive goes through? That tends to decide which tool people settle on.

Get Maccy from the official site. It’s free, and it’s the only official domain.