Clipboard

The Alien SDK provides clipboard access through the host app’s native clipboard API. This works reliably across iOS and Android, unlike browser clipboard APIs which are restricted in WebViews.

React Hook


 
function CopyButton({ text }: { text: string }) {
  const { writeText, readText, isReading, errorCode, supported } =
    useClipboard();
 
  if (!supported) {
    return <p>Update the Alien app to use clipboard features.</p>;
  }
 
  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={() => writeText(text)}>Copy</button>
      <button onClick={async () => {
        const content = await readText();
        if (content !== null) {
          console.log('Clipboard:', content);
        }
      }}>
        {isReading ? 'Reading...' : 'Paste'}
      </button>
      {errorCode && <p>Error: {errorCode}</p>}
    </div>
  );
}

Return Values

Property	Type	Description
`writeText`	`(text: string) => void`	Copy text to clipboard
`readText`	`() => Promise<string \| null>`	Read from clipboard
`isReading`	`boolean`	`true` while a read is in progress
`errorCode`	`string \| null`	Error from the last failed read
`supported`	`boolean`	`true` if host supports clipboard

Options


const clipboard = useClipboard({ timeout: 10000 });

Option	Type	Default	Description
`timeout`	`number`	`5000`	Timeout in ms for read operations

Error Codes

Code	Description
`permission_denied`	The user denied clipboard access
`unavailable`	Clipboard is not available on this device

Bridge API

For non-React apps, use the bridge directly.

Write to Clipboard

Fire-and-forget — no response event.


 
send('clipboard:write', { text: 'Hello!' });

Read from Clipboard

Uses request-response pattern with clipboard:response.


 
const response = await request(
  'clipboard:read',
  {},
  'clipboard:response',
  { timeout: 5000 },
);
 
if (response.text !== null) {
  console.log('Clipboard content:', response.text);
} else {
  console.error('Clipboard error:', response.errorCode);
}

clipboard:response


{
  reqId: string;
  text: string | null;
  errorCode?: 'permission_denied' | 'unavailable';
}

On success: text contains the clipboard content (may be empty string), no errorCode
On failure: text is null, errorCode indicates the reason

Version Requirements

Clipboard methods are available since contract version 0.1.1. Use useIsMethodSupported or isMethodSupported to check:


 
const { supported } = useIsMethodSupported('clipboard:write');

Next Steps

Haptic Feedback — Haptic feedback
Link Management — Open URLs through the host app
Payments — Accept payments
Bridge Reference — Full bridge API reference