It all started with a pretty simple thought.
We copy and paste things hundreds of times every day. Sometimes it's just normal text, sometimes it's an API key, password, personal information, or something we really shouldn't be sharing.
And most of the time, we don't even realize it.
This is actually becoming a pretty big concern for companies too.
With everyone using third-party AI tools these days, employees can unknowingly end up sharing their company's internal data, client information, PII, API keys, or other sensitive secrets with external services.
Not because they mean to, but simply because it's so easy to copy something and paste it into an AI chatbot without thinking twice.
And that's exactly the problem I wanted PrePaste to solve.
A small, privacy-first desktop app that helps catch sensitive information before it accidentally leaves your hands.
How it all started
I originally built PrePaste during an OpenAI hackathon.
It was one of those ideas I really wanted to turn into something real, and the hackathon gave me the perfect excuse to do it.
The first version was built pretty quickly, with a fair bit of vibe coding involved hehe.
It worked, and I was genuinely happy with it.
But there's a difference between something that works for a hackathon and something people can actually trust and use every day, especially when privacy is involved.
So I decided to rebuild it.
Same idea, but this time, everything from scratch.
The part I didn't expect ❤️
After sharing PrePaste, something really sweet happened.
People actually started reaching out.
I got messages from developers in Germany, Korea, the USA, and quite a few others through Devpost, Discord, and LinkedIn.
Some wanted to try it, some had suggestions, some wanted to contribute, and some simply asked me to keep building it.
And honestly, that meant a lot.
It's one thing to build something because you think it's useful, but seeing people from completely different parts of the world interested in your little project is a completely different feeling.
A lot of my motivation to continue came from these people.
So thank you. Really.
So here we are, building PrePaste again!
This time, I want it to feel like a proper little product.
Something simple, polished, and genuinely nice to use.
I'm rebuilding it with a much cleaner foundation, a far more premium experience, and a little personality of its own, just like all my other projects.
I want PrePaste to fit naturally into your everyday workflow, without making privacy feel like another complicated thing you have to worry about.
And yes, it's going to be completely free and open source.
No subscriptions, no unnecessary paywalls. Just a useful little tool anyone can use.
A little glimpse 👀
I've also been working on the website, and I'm pretty excited about how it's turning out.
Here's a little glimpse of what's coming hehe.
I'm hoping to have a stable release ready within the next week. Fingers crossed!
One last thing ❤️
To everyone who's supported PrePaste so far, take my heart. ❤️❤️
More soon, hehe.
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