Cai vs Maccy
Maccy is a focused clipboard-history app, and it's excellent at that one thing. Cai is a different shape: a smart-action layer that runs on any text or image you select (AI prompts, shell scripts, OCR, GitHub and Linear tickets). Cai ships clipboard history as one of many features, not the main event. If you only need clipboard history, Maccy is lighter. If you want to act on what you select, Cai is what that looks like.
When to use Cai
- You want smart actions on any selected text (summarize, translate, reply, fix grammar)
- You need OCR, custom AI prompts, or shell scripts on your selection
- You want to create GitHub issues or Linear tickets from any app
- You'd use clipboard history too, and want a single tool that handles both
When to use Maccy
- You only need clipboard history and want the lightest possible tool
- You prefer a minimal app that does one thing extremely well
- You want to expose your clipboard history to Claude via MCP
- You don't need AI, OCR, shell actions, or integrations
Feature comparison
| Feature | Cai | Maccy |
|---|---|---|
| Selection-triggered smart actions | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI actions (summarize, translate, reply) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Custom AI prompts on selection | ✓ | ✕ |
| Shell command execution on selection | ✓ | ✕ |
| GitHub & Linear integration | ✓ | ✕ |
| OCR / Image to text | ✓ | ✕ |
| Built-in AI model (Ministral 3B) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Apple Intelligence support | ✓ | ✕ |
| Community extensions (YAML) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Clipboard history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Search clipboard history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pin clipboard items | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ultra-lightweight (clipboard-only) | ✕ | ✓ |
| MCP server for Claude | ✕ | Community-built |
| Free and open source (MIT) | ✓ | ✓ |