Maccy open-source status explained
Maccy being open source is more than a badge — it shapes how trustworthy, private, and durable the app is. Here is what its open-source status actually means for you.
What “open source” means here
The complete code that runs on your Mac is published openly. Anyone — you, a security researcher, your IT team — can inspect exactly how Maccy captures, stores, and handles your clipboard. There is no hidden behaviour, because there is no hidden code.
The MIT license
Maccy uses the MIT license, one of the most permissive. In practice that means it is free to use for any purpose, you can modify it, and you can redistribute your own builds. It is about as unrestricted as software licensing gets.
Why this matters to you
- Trust through verification: privacy claims — local storage, no telemetry, ignoring passwords — are checkable in the source, not just asserted. See the security review.
- Durability: because the code is public and forkable, Maccy does not depend on one company’s survival. If the original maintainer ever stepped away, the community could continue it.
- No lock-in or hidden monetisation: there is nowhere for ads, trackers, or paywalls to hide.
- Community improvement: anyone can report issues or contribute fixes and features.
Where to find the source
The project lives on GitHub, where you can browse the code, read release notes, file issues, and submit pull requests. It is maintained in the open by its author and community contributors.
Open source and the price
Open source and free are related but distinct: Maccy is both. It costs nothing and its source is open. For how that is funded and what (if anything) is paid, see is Maccy free and Maccy pricing.
For security-minded users, open source is decisive — it is a big part of why Maccy ranks as one of the most secure clipboard managers.
What “open source” means for a clipboard manager
For most software, “open source” is a technical detail that only matters to developers. For a clipboard manager — an app that records everything you copy — it is a security and privacy guarantee.
When a clipboard manager is open source:
- You can verify that it does not send clipboard data to any server
- You can verify that it respects its stated ignore list
- You can verify that it has no hidden telemetry
- Security researchers can audit it before it is installed on thousands of Macs
When a clipboard manager is closed source, you have to trust the vendor’s privacy policy. With Maccy, you can verify the code.
Maccy’s licence: MIT
Maccy is released under the MIT licence — one of the most permissive open-source licences in existence.
What MIT allows:
- Use the software for any purpose, including commercial
- Modify the source code
- Distribute copies of the modified or unmodified software
- Use it in proprietary projects
What MIT requires:
- Include the MIT licence notice in any distribution
- Nothing else
Where the source code is
The complete source code is at github.com/p0deje/Maccy. This includes:
- All Swift source files
- The full history of every change (commit history)
- Open and closed bug reports
- The build configuration (so you can compile it yourself)
Building Maccy from source
If you want to compile Maccy yourself to be certain you are running exactly the code on GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy.git
cd Maccy
xcodebuild -scheme Maccy -configuration Release
# Or open Maccy.xcodeproj in Xcode and build directlyThis requires Xcode and an Apple Developer account (for signing). For most users, the pre-built signed binary from maccymanager.com is more practical and produces an identical result.
Is the open-source version the same as the download?
Yes. The signed binary at maccymanager.com is built from the same source code on GitHub. You can verify this by comparing the version numbers. There is no “lite” open-source version and a “full” closed-source version — the code is identical.