WSL2 to Windows Clipboard Bridge for Image Pastes

The problem

When Claude runs in VSCode on Windows with WSL2, pasting images from the clipboard doesn’t work — the sandboxed environment can’t reach the Windows clipboard. mcp-clip bridges WSL2 to the Windows clipboard (including images) through PowerShell.

Setup

1. Install in WSL2

# In your WSL2 terminal
npm install -g @standardbeagle/mcp-clip

2. Configure the Claude Code extension

Add to your VSCode settings or workspace .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "claude-dev.mcpServers": {
    "clipboard": {
      "command": "mcp-clip",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

3. Verify PowerShell access from WSL2

/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe -Command "Get-Clipboard"

How it works

WSL2 → Windows clipboard: for image and file-list content, read_clipboard shells out to PowerShell to reach the Windows clipboard — this is the reason the server exists. This path runs when a call passes format: "file" or output_path. Plain format: "auto" or "text" reads use the same native clipboard access as Linux.
Linux: direct clipboard integration via golang.design/x/clipboard.
macOS / Windows: native clipboard support.

Troubleshooting

PowerShell not found

sudo apt update && sudo apt install powershell

Permission denied

echo 'export PATH="/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Clipboard empty in WSL2

powershell.exe "Get-Clipboard"

MCP connection failed

Verify mcp-clip is in your PATH
Check the Claude Desktop config JSON syntax
Restart Claude Desktop after config changes

Large images not working

Check available disk space in the temp directory
Verify temp directory permissions
Enable debug mode: MCP_DEBUG=1

Performance issues

Monitor with debug mode enabled
Check for antivirus interference
Verify WSL2 resource allocation