Help
How to use Relic
One page per feature, with the real settings, the real shortcuts, and the real words the app uses. Every page has a stable address, so a link from the app or from a chat will keep working.
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Install Relic, make your vault, and learn the window you will live in.
Install Relic
Get Relic on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone and iPad, with the download for each one and what the first launch asks you for.
Your first run
What the desktop app asks you the first time you open it, from signing in to saving your recovery kit, and the four tips it shows in the window.
How Relic works
A plain guide to the words Relic uses. What an item is, what your history holds, what the Vault keeps, and how a computer and a phone differ.
The Relic window
A tour of the window you open with Ctrl+Shift+Q: the search box, the All and Vault scopes, sorting, the item rows, the sync chip, and the tray menu.
Capture
How things get into Relic: automatically on a computer, with a tap on a phone.
What Relic captures
On a computer Relic keeps everything you copy: text, images and files. What it skips, what happens when something is too big, and how to turn each kind off.
Save something and name it
Press Ctrl + Shift + E anywhere and Relic saves what you have selected, or what you last copied, to your Vault with the editor open on the title.
Keep the last thing you copied
Press Ctrl + Shift + W and the most recent capture moves into your Vault. Nothing opens, a gem flourishes on screen to say it worked, and you carry on typing.
Write a new item by hand
The gold plus opens New relic: a title, the text, tags and attached files. Save it to your Vault, or make it a snippet with a trigger you can type later.
Never capture from an app
Put a password manager or a banking app on the blocklist and nothing you copy there ever reaches Relic. How to add one, and what Relic already skips on its own.
Pause capture
Stop Relic recording what you copy for ten minutes, for an hour, or until you say so. The window shows a banner while a pause is on, and a restart clears it.
Secrets
Relic spots API keys, tokens and card numbers, hides them behind dots in the list, and handles them differently everywhere until you ask to see one.
Bold, links and colours
Relic remembers how the text you copied was formatted, and pastes it so it takes the look of the document you paste into. Turn it off, or paste plain just this once.
Capturing on Android
Android does not let any app read the clipboard in the background, so Relic gives you two ways in: the share sheet, and a Quick Settings tile you tap once.
Capturing on an iPhone or iPad
Two ways to get something into Relic on an iPhone or an iPad: the share sheet in any app, and a Shortcut you can put on Back Tap or the Action Button.
Find
Search by word, by date, by meaning, or by what is inside a screenshot.
Searching your vault
Type in the Relic window and the list filters as you go. What search covers, the All and Vault scopes, the sort button, and what to do when nothing matches.
Search words and operators
Every word Relic's search box understands: tag:, kind:, is:kept, has:file, quoted phrases, minus to exclude, the sort words, and date phrases.
Search by date
Type a date the way you would say it, like last week or June 20, and Relic turns it into a filter you can remove. Plus the date button and its presets.
Search by meaning
Find an item by what it is about rather than the exact words in it, and search the text inside your screenshots. It all runs on your own computer.
Collection chips
The chips under the search box group your items by what they are: links, code, screenshots, receipts and more. Tap one to see just those.
Tags
The tags you add and the tags Relic adds, the tags sheet behind the # button, renaming or deleting a tag, and tagging several items at once.
Personalized ranking
Relic notices which items you pick for which searches and moves them up next time. Everything it learns stays on the device, and you can clear it.
Keep and organise
The vault, tags, notes, titles, and everything else that makes an item easy to find later.
The Vault
Everything you copy lands in your history. The Vault is the part you chose to keep, and kept items never expire. Here is how to put something in it.
Edit an item
Open any item to give it a title, a note and tags, change its text, or add files. Everything you type there is searchable afterwards.
Attachments
An item can carry files as well as text. How to add them in the editor, how much they may weigh, how to take one off, and what the row shows.
Snippets
A snippet is a saved piece of text with a short trigger label. Type the label in the picker and the snippet jumps to the top of the list.
Reminders
Turn on Clip reminders, then set a time on any item. Relic nudges you when it is due, with a button that copies the item straight to your clipboard.
Pick several items at once
Select rows with Ctrl+click, Shift+click or Ctrl+A, then copy, keep, tag or delete the whole lot from the bar that appears above the list.
Delete and undo
How to delete one item or many, why Vault items ask first, how to undo a delete while the toast is still up, and what Clear all history removes.
Paste
Get things back out without leaving the app you are typing in.
The mini picker
Ctrl+Shift+Space opens a small picker where you are typing. Type a word, press Enter, and the item you picked lands in the field.
Quick paste 1 to 5
Ctrl+Shift+1 to Ctrl+Shift+5 paste your five most recent items by position, from any of your devices, without opening a window.
The paste stack
Queue several things, then paste them one at a time in the order you queued them. Good for filling a form from a page of details.
Paste directly on select
Picking an item can copy it and paste it into the app you came from, in one press. What that needs on a Mac, and what happens on Linux.
Drag an item out
Drag a row from the Relic window straight into another app. Text drops as text, an image drops as a picture, a file drops as the file.
Copy as
The row menu can copy text in another shape: plain, UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, or squeezed onto a single line.
Sync and devices
Your vault on every device, and how to add or remove one.
How sync works
Every item and its files reach your other devices in seconds, sealed before they leave. What Sync now does, what happens offline, and what Not synced means.
Add a device
Put Relic on a second computer or phone. Show the QR and the code on a device you already use, scan or type it, then check the four digits match.
Your devices
The list of everything signed in to your vault. What each row tells you, how to rename or remove a device, and what happens at your plan's device limit.
Switch account
Sign this device in to a different Relic account, and choose what happens to the items that belong to the old one. Nothing is uploaded until you say so.
Connect to your own server
Point the Relic apps at a sync server you run yourself. The address, the Test button, the passphrase, and the QR that saves you typing an address on a phone.
Your vault in a browser
relic.space/vault opens your vault on a computer with no Relic installed. Sign in, enter your vault passphrase, and search, add, edit and delete in the tab.
Privacy and security
Your passphrase, your recovery kit, and what Relic can and cannot see.
How encryption works
Your vault passphrase becomes a key on your device. That key seals every item before it leaves, and the server only ever holds the sealed version.
Your vault passphrase
The vault passphrase seals your data. The account password signs you in. How to pick a good one, how to change it, and what a change affects.
Your recovery kit
The recovery kit is a code that opens your vault without the passphrase. Where you get it, where to keep it, how to see it again, and how to use it.
What Relic can and cannot see
A plain list of what Relic's servers hold about your account, what they cannot read, what the models on your device see, and what a share link gives away.
Share links and QR codes
Send one item as an encrypted link that expires, or show a QR code that never leaves your device. How to make one and what the person you send it to sees.
Sign out everywhere
Sign every device out of your Relic account after losing one, change the email you sign in with, or delete your account and the vault synced to it.
Backups and data
Automatic encrypted backups, export, restore, and how much Relic keeps.
Automatic backups
Turn on the weekly encrypted backup: pick a folder, set a backup passphrase, and let Relic keep the newest four files somewhere you trust.
Restore from a backup
Put your items back from an encrypted backup file or from an export folder, and what happens to items you already have.
Export your vault
Write every item to a plain JSON file, with copies of the images and files on this computer, so anything else can read them.
How much history Relic keeps
History is a rolling window of the things you copied and never kept. Here is how big that window is, how to change it, and how to empty it.
Space and where files live
The storage bar, the count of saved items, the image cache, where Save puts things, and the folder Relic keeps your vault in on each computer.
AI on your device
The models that name, tag, and read your items, and how to turn each part on or off.
AI on your device
Relic can sort, tag and read your items on your own computer. What the models do, how to turn them on, the one-time download, and what the status line is telling you.
Read the text in images
Relic reads the words inside your screenshots and photos so you can search for them, and shows them under the picture when you open the item.
Describe items
Give the things you keep, and every photo, a short title and a few topic tags, so you can search what a picture shows or what a note is about.
Analysis speed
Gentle, Balanced or Fast: how much of your computer the background analysis may use, when it runs, and how to tell when it has worked through everything.
Settings reference
Every setting in the app, pane by pane, with what it does and its default.
Settings: General
Every row in the General pane of Relic's desktop settings: launch at login, the shortcuts, the tray icon, appearance, popup size, and the power features.
Settings: Capture
Every row in the Capture pane on a computer: what Relic picks up, formatting, secret masking, the size limit, and the apps it never captures from.
Settings: Search and AI
The Search and AI pane: the smart tags switch and its status line, image text, search by meaning, descriptions, speed, the models, and ranking.
Settings: Vault and storage
The Vault and storage pane: space used, how much history to keep, clearing history, the image cache, the data folder, export and import, and backups.
Settings: Sync and account
The Sync and account pane: the connection line, this computer's name, your devices, security and your plan, with what Disconnect and Switch account do.
Settings: About
The About pane: your version and the lines under it, checking for updates, opening the log folder, copying diagnostics, and the links at the bottom.
Settings on your phone
The settings sheet in Relic for Android and iPhone: device name, auto-save to Vault, secret masking, formatting, ranking, save location, appearance, and the account actions.
Shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut, and how to change one.
Keyboard shortcuts
Every Relic shortcut on Windows, Mac, and Linux: the global hotkeys that work anywhere, the keys inside the window, and the mouse moves.
Change a shortcut
How to give any Relic shortcut new keys, put one back to its default, clear one you never use, and what to do when the system refuses a chord.
Platforms
What is different on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, and the web.
Relic on Windows
Installing Relic on Windows with winget or the installer, where it lives in the tray, the relic command, updates that install themselves, and your data folder.
Relic on a Mac
Relic on a Mac: the disk image and the move to Applications, the menu bar, the Accessibility permission that lets it paste for you, and the keys a Mac uses.
Relic on Linux
Relic on Linux: the tarball and the AppImage, why X11 gives you the whole app and Wayland does not, desktops with no tray, and where your vault lives.
Relic on Android
What Relic does on an Android phone: the share sheet and the Quick Settings tile instead of automatic capture, and everything the app can still do.
Relic on iPhone and iPad
What Relic does on an iPhone and an iPad: the share sheet and a Shortcut instead of automatic capture, the two pane iPad layout, and what the app does not do.
Relic in a browser
Your vault at relic.space/vault in any browser: what you can do there, what only the app on your computer can do, and what the browser keeps when you close the tab.
Agents and the CLI
Let a script or an AI agent read and write your vault.
The relic command
A small command that reads and writes the same vault the app does, on this computer, with no account and no network. The lines to type first.
Use Relic with an AI agent
Install the Relic skill so Claude Code or another agent can search your vault, save things to it, and pull a file out, without being able to delete anything.
Troubleshooting
When a shortcut, a paste, a capture, or sync does not do what you expect.
A shortcut does nothing
You press the keys and Relic does not open. Check that Relic is running, that no other app has claimed the chord, and the platform rules that catch people out.
Relic copies but does not paste
You pick an item and nothing lands in the app you were typing in. The causes in order, from a setting that is off to a permission a Mac has not granted yet.
Things you copy are not showing up
Relic is missing a copy you made. Work through capture being paused, a blocked app, a copy marked private, the size limit, and what a phone does not do.
Sync is not happening
Your items are staying on one device. What the sync chip is telling you, what each not-synced reason means, and the one thing to do about each of them.
You lost your vault passphrase
The account password and the vault passphrase are two different things. What you can reset, how the recovery kit gets you back in, and what happens if both are gone.
Updating Relic
How Relic tells you a new version is ready, the two ways to install it, and what to do when the check fails or the update cannot install itself in place.
Questions
Short answers to the questions people ask most, plus plans and limits.
Common questions
Short answers about what Relic captures, what it can and cannot read, what happens if you forget your passphrase, and where your data really lives.
Plans and limits
Every number on the free, Pro and Max plans: item size, storage, saved items, history, devices and share links, and what happens when you reach one.
For scripts and agents
This index as JSON, with every page, section, anchor, setting and shortcut: relic.space/help/index.json. Any page as markdown: add .md to its address, or send an Accept header of text/markdown. The developer docs (the command line, the sync API, self-hosting) are at relic.space/developers.