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Cinch

FAQ

General

Section titled “General”

What is the maximum clip size?

Section titled “What is the maximum clip size?”

By default, the hosted relay accepts clips up to 20 MB. Self-hosted relays can raise this limit with the MAX_BODY_MB environment variable (up to whatever your server’s RAM allows).

Which platforms does Cinch support?

Section titled “Which platforms does Cinch support?”

The CLI (cinch push / cinch pull / cinch auth) runs on:

  • macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)
  • Linux (x86_64, ARM64)
  • Windows (x86_64)

The desktop app (macOS) receives clips automatically and copies them to your clipboard. Linux and Windows builds are planned.

Does Cinch support binary data and images?

Section titled “Does Cinch support binary data and images?”

Yes. cinch push reads raw bytes from stdin and auto-detects the MIME type from the first 512 bytes. Binary data, PNG/JPEG images, and arbitrary files are all supported.

Terminal window
cat screenshot.png | cinch push
cinch pull > screenshot.png

Does the CLI require a GUI or a desktop session?

Section titled “Does the CLI require a GUI or a desktop session?”

No. The CLI is fully headless. It works in SSH sessions, Docker containers, CI runners, and cron jobs — anywhere with outbound HTTPS access.

Security

Section titled “Security”

Who can see my clips?

Section titled “Who can see my clips?”

Only machines paired with the same relay and token. The relay stores clips encrypted at rest (SQLite + filesystem encryption). If you use the hosted relay, Cinch staff have access to the relay infrastructure but not to the content of individual clips.

For maximum privacy, self-host the relay — see Self-hosting.

How long are clips kept?

Section titled “How long are clips kept?”

The hosted relay deletes clips after 7 days. Self-hosted relays default to 7 days and can be configured with RETENTION_DAYS.

Is the connection encrypted?

Section titled “Is the connection encrypted?”

Yes. All HTTP and WebSocket traffic is over TLS (HTTPS / WSS). The hosted relay enforces TLS. If you self-host, terminating TLS at a reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx, Cloudflare Tunnel) is recommended.

CI / Automation

Section titled “CI / Automation”

How do I use Cinch in GitHub Actions or other CI systems?

Section titled “How do I use Cinch in GitHub Actions or other CI systems?”

Set CINCH_TOKEN and CINCH_RELAY_URL as environment variables. The CLI reads them automatically — no config file needed.

.github/workflows/deploy.yml
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4


      - name: Install cinch
        run: curl -fsSL https://cinchcli.com/install.sh | sh


      - name: Push build status
        env:
          CINCH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CINCH_TOKEN }}
          CINCH_RELAY_URL: ${{ vars.CINCH_RELAY_URL }}
        run: echo "Build ${{ github.run_number }} passed" | cinch push --label "ci"

Get your token from cinch auth status or generate a dedicated one with cinch auth regenerate-pair-token.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

cinch push hangs

Section titled “cinch push hangs”

This usually means the relay is unreachable. Check:

  1. Is your relay running? Try curl https://your-relay/health.
  2. Is CINCH_RELAY_URL set correctly?
  3. Is port 8080 (or your configured port) open in the firewall?

cinch pull returns nothing

Section titled “cinch pull returns nothing”

The relay has no recent clip to return. Push something first, or check cinch auth status to confirm the device is paired.

Authentication fails after re-installing

Section titled “Authentication fails after re-installing”

Run cinch auth logout then re-pair with a fresh token from cinch auth pair.