Architecture

How the QuilrAI Clipboard Monitor intercepts clipboard events on the endpoint, enforces DLP policies from the browser extension, and takes action without interrupting the user.

Endpoint Clipboard

# Clipboard monitoring settings
Monitor text:   ✓ enabled
Monitor files:  — disabled
Monitor images: — disabled
Debounce:       100 ms
Max payload:    10 KB

QuilrAI Clipboard Monitor

Detect

OS Hook

WinAPI notification (Windows)

NSPasteboard polling (macOS)

Text / file / image types

Filter

Debounce window

Content-type gates

Payload size cap

Inspect

Forward to Extension

Content metadata + type

Size-capped payload

Native Messaging pipe

Policy Evaluation

DLP rule match

Allow / Block / Prompt

User identity context

Enforce

Allow

Clipboard operation completes

Event logged silently

Block

Clipboard cleared on endpoint

User notified

Prompt

Native OS dialog shown

Justification captured and logged

Logging · Debounce · Cross-platform · Native Messaging

Browser Extension

DLP Rule EvaluationAllowBlockPromptAudit Logs

QuilrAI

Pipeline Stages

Every clipboard event flows through these stages in order. Each stage is independently configurable from the dashboard.

Stage	Description
OS Hook	Intercepts native clipboard-change notifications on Windows and macOS.
Filter	Suppresses events within the debounce window and applies content-type gates and payload size cap.
Forward to Extension	Sends content metadata to the browser extension over the Native Messaging pipe for policy evaluation.
Policy Evaluation	The extension evaluates DLP rules against the clipboard payload and returns Allow, Block, or Prompt.
Enforce	The endpoint executes the decision — clears clipboard on block, shows a native dialog on prompt.

Response Path

Policy decisions from the browser extension flow back through the enforcement layer before any action is taken. The same DLP rule set applies to all content types (text, files, images).

Platform Support

Platform	Hook Mechanism	Justification UI
macOS	NSPasteboard change-count polling	Native Cocoa dialog
Windows	WinAPI clipboard-change notification	Windows message-based dialog

macOS requires Accessibility permission for the Sentinel process.

Observability

Every clipboard event is logged with content type, policy decision, and enforcement outcome. Check Logs under Clipboard Monitor to review activity.