fix(clipboard): read the clipboard natively for Paste from menus

A Paste chosen from a menu (the terminal's context menu, Edit › Paste, Paste as
Plain Text and other paste buttons) has no paste event to read, so it used
navigator.clipboard.readText(), and the terminal tried execCommand("paste") first.
On Linux, WebKitGTK gives neither the text, so the terminal's context-menu Paste
did nothing while middle-click paste worked.

A new clipboard_text command reads the clipboard's text natively, as
clipboard_write_text already writes it: GTK on Linux, NSPasteboard on macOS, and
none on Windows, where the WebView's clipboard is still used.
readClipboardPlainText() wraps it with that fallback, and every menu paste reads
through it. On Linux the terminal pastes the native text before trying
execCommand; an image-only clipboard keeps the existing paths.

crates/ide-clipboard/src/lib.rs

@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ pub fn set_text(text: &str, owner: usize) -> std::io::Result<()> {
     imp::set_text(text, owner)
 }
 
+/// The clipboard's plain text, None when it holds none. macOS only (main thread);
+/// Linux reads it asynchronously through GTK in the app, Windows through the WebView.
+#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+pub fn text() -> Option<String> {
+    imp::text()
+}
+
 /// Size of `DROPFILES`: `pFiles`, `pt` (two `LONG`s), `fNC`, `fWide`.
 const HEADER: usize = 20;
 
@@ -373,6 +380,14 @@ mod imp {
         })
     }
 
+    pub fn text() -> Option<String> {
+        debug_assert!(MainThreadMarker::new().is_some(), "NSPasteboard access requires the main thread");
+        autoreleasepool(|_| {
+            // SAFETY: the type is an AppKit constant, valid for the process' lifetime.
+            NSPasteboard::generalPasteboard().stringForType(unsafe { NSPasteboardTypeString }).map(|s| s.to_string())
+        })
+    }
+
     pub fn set_text(text: &str, _owner: usize) -> std::io::Result<()> {
         debug_assert!(MainThreadMarker::new().is_some(), "NSPasteboard access requires the main thread");
         autoreleasepool(|_| {

src-tauri/src/commands/clipboard.rs

@@ -22,6 +22,37 @@ pub async fn clipboard_write_text(app: AppHandle, window: WebviewWindow, text: S
     with_clipboard(app, move || ide_clipboard::set_text(&text, owner).map_err(ide_core::IdeError::from)).await
 }
 
+/// The clipboard's plain text, read natively as [`clipboard_write_text`] writes it: a Paste
+/// from a menu has no paste event, and WebKitGTK gives `navigator.clipboard.readText()` no
+/// text there (#3041). None on Windows, where the WebView's clipboard is used.
+#[tauri::command]
+#[specta::specta]
+pub async fn clipboard_text(app: AppHandle) -> IdeResult<Option<String>> {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    {
+        let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
+        app.run_on_main_thread(move || {
+            let sender = std::cell::Cell::new(Some(tx));
+            gtk::Clipboard::get(&gtk::gdk::SELECTION_CLIPBOARD).request_text(move |_, text| {
+                if let Some(sender) = sender.take() {
+                    let _ = sender.send(text.map(|t| t.to_string()));
+                }
+            });
+        })
+        .map_err(|error| IdeError::internal(format!("Cannot dispatch clipboard access to the main thread: {error}")))?;
+        Ok(rx.await.ok().flatten())
+    }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        with_clipboard(app, || Ok(ide_clipboard::text())).await
+    }
+    #[cfg(not(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "linux")))]
+    {
+        let _ = app;
+        Ok(None)
+    }
+}
+
 /// Absolute paths on the clipboard, empty when it holds no file list.
 #[tauri::command]
 #[specta::specta]

src-tauri/src/commands/mod.rs

@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ pub fn builder() -> tauri_specta::Builder<tauri::Wry> {
         fs::fs_read_text,
         fs::fs_open_with_system,
         clipboard::clipboard_write_text,
+        clipboard::clipboard_text,
         clipboard::clipboard_file_list,
         clipboard::clipboard_has_files,
         clipboard::clipboard_image,

src/bindings.ts

@@ -280,6 +280,12 @@ export const commands = {
 	fsOpenWithSystem: (path: string) => typedError<null, IdeError>(__TAURI_INVOKE("fs_open_with_system", { path })),
 	/**  Writes text locally, without WebView user-activation requirements. */
 	clipboardWriteText: (text: string) => typedError<null, IdeError>(__TAURI_INVOKE("clipboard_write_text", { text })),
+	/**
+	 *  The clipboard's plain text, read natively as [`clipboard_write_text`] writes it: a Paste
+	 *  from a menu has no paste event, and WebKitGTK gives `navigator.clipboard.readText()` no
+	 *  text there (#3041). None on Windows, where the WebView's clipboard is used.
+	 */
+	clipboardText: () => typedError<string | null, IdeError>(__TAURI_INVOKE("clipboard_text")),
 	/**  Absolute paths on the clipboard, empty when it holds no file list. */
 	clipboardFileList: () => typedError<string[], IdeError>(__TAURI_INVOKE("clipboard_file_list")),
 	/**  Whether the clipboard holds files: cheap, for the Paste item's enabled state. */

src/editor/core/extras.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /** Edit › Paste from History and Code › Unwrap/Remove: the parts that need popups or the backend. */
-import { writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
+import { readClipboardPlainText, writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 import { EditorSelection } from "@codemirror/state";
 import type { EditorView } from "@codemirror/view";
 import { structure } from "@/editor/structure";
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ export async function pasteAsPlainText(view: EditorView) {
   if (view.state.readOnly) return;
   let text: string;
   try {
-    text = (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+    text = await readClipboardPlainText();
   } catch {
     hint("Cannot read the clipboard");
     return;

src/features/app/appActions.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { quitApp } from "./closeGuard";
 import { guessOs } from "./host";
 import { showKeymapReference } from "./KeymapReference";
 import { checkForUpdates } from "./updates";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 
 function errorText(e: unknown) {
   return e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
@@ -50,8 +51,8 @@ export function editCommand(command: "undo" | "redo" | "cut" | "copy" | "paste"
       if (focused instanceof Element && runUndoHandlers(command, focused)) return;
     }
     if (command === "selectAll" && selectReadingPane(document.activeElement)) return;
-    if (command === "paste" && navigator.clipboard?.readText) {
-      void navigator.clipboard.readText().then((text) => document.execCommand("insertText", false, text));
+    if (command === "paste") {
+      void readClipboardPlainText().then((text) => document.execCommand("insertText", false, text));
       return;
     }
     document.execCommand(command);

src/features/database/treeMenu.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { VENDORS, vendorPreset } from "./vendors";
 import { nodeTarget, objectOf, tableOf, type DbNode } from "./nodes";
 import { SCRIPT_LABELS, canDrop, canModifyTable, canRename, type ScriptKind } from "./objects";
 import { connectedTargets, openDialog, openSourceDialog, sourceById, useDatabase } from "./store";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 
 const act = (
   action: string,
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ function dataSourceItems(): MenuItem[] {
 async function sourceFromClipboard() {
   let text = "";
   try {
-    text = (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+    text = await readClipboardPlainText();
   } catch {
     // Unreadable clipboard: reported below like an unknown one.
   }

src/features/run/EnvDialog.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
+import { readClipboardPlainText, writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import clsx from "clsx";
 import { commands, isTauri, type RunConfig } from "@/platform/ipc";
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ export function EnvDialog({
   };
   const paste = async () => {
     try {
-      const text = await navigator.clipboard.readText();
+      const text = await readClipboardPlainText();
       setRows((r) => pasteRows(r, text));
     } catch {
       /* clipboard unavailable */

src/features/run/TomcatSettings.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
+import { readClipboardPlainText, writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import clsx from "clsx";
 import { call, commands, isTauri, type RunConfig, type TomcatInstallation, type WebArtifact } from "@/platform/ipc";
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ export function TomcatSettings({ config, onChange }: { config: RunConfig; onChan
                   iconSize={13}
                   title="Paste"
                   onClick={() => {
-                    void navigator.clipboard?.readText().then((text) => {
+                    void readClipboardPlainText().then((text) => {
                       if (!text.trim()) return;
                       const idx = text.indexOf("=");
                       const name = idx >= 0 ? text.slice(0, idx).trim() : text.trim();

src/features/run/stackTrace.tsx

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import { findOutputLinks } from "./links";
 import { useRun } from "./store";
 import styles from "./StackTrace.module.css";
 import { tx } from "@/platform/i18n";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 
 export interface StackTraceTab {
   id: string;
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ export function closeStackTrace(id: string) {
 async function openDialog() {
   let clip = "";
   try {
-    clip = (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+    clip = await readClipboardPlainText();
   } catch {
     // clipboard unavailable or denied: start empty
   }

src/features/templates/editor.ts

@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import { usePostfixSettings } from "./postfix/store";
 import { showChooser, type ChooserItem } from "./popup/store";
 import { expandEmmetAtCaret } from "./emmet/editor";
 import { hasEmmet, loadEmmet } from "./emmet/model";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 
 export interface TemplateDocInfo {
   path: string;
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ function userName(): string {
 
 async function readClipboard(): Promise<string> {
   try {
-    return (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+    return await readClipboardPlainText();
   } catch {
     return "";
   }

src/features/terminal/paste.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { Terminal } from "@xterm/xterm";
 import { commands } from "@/platform/ipc";
+import { usePlatform } from "@/platform/platformInfo";
 import { installTerminalPaste, pasteTerminalClipboard, type TerminalPasteTarget } from "./paste";
 
 const notify = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
@@ -525,3 +526,28 @@ it("recovers quoted local file paths when clipboard text permission is denied",
   expect(paste).toHaveBeenCalledExactlyOnceWith("'C:\\a b\\image.png'");
   expect(notify).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
 });
+
+it.each([
+  // WebKitGTK pastes nothing from a menu through execCommand or readText: native text first.
+  { os: "linux", native: "ls -la", expected: ["ls -la"], execCommand: 0 },
+  // An image-only clipboard keeps the WebView paths.
+  { os: "linux", native: "", expected: [], execCommand: 1 },
+  { os: "macos", native: "ls -la", expected: ["ls -la"], execCommand: 1 },
+] as const)("menu paste on $os with native text '$native'", async ({ os, native, expected, execCommand }) => {
+  usePlatform.setState({ os });
+  vi.spyOn(commands, "clipboardText").mockResolvedValue({ status: "ok", data: native });
+  Object.defineProperty(navigator, "clipboard", { configurable: true, value: { readText: async () => "web" } });
+  const exec = vi.fn(() => false);
+  Object.defineProperty(document, "queryCommandSupported", { configurable: true, value: () => true });
+  Object.defineProperty(document, "execCommand", { configurable: true, value: exec });
+  const paste = vi.fn();
+  try {
+    await pasteTerminalClipboard(paste, () => localTarget());
+  } finally {
+    usePlatform.setState({ os: "macos" });
+    Reflect.deleteProperty(document, "queryCommandSupported");
+    Reflect.deleteProperty(document, "execCommand");
+  }
+  expect(exec).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(execCommand);
+  expect(paste.mock.calls).toEqual(expected.map((text) => [text]));
+});

src/features/terminal/paste.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-import { pasteClipboardFiles, readClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
+import { pasteClipboardFiles, readClipboardPlainText, readClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 import { call, commands, type TerminalId } from "@/platform/ipc";
 import { tx } from "@/platform/i18n";
+import { usePlatform } from "@/platform/platformInfo";
 import { notifications } from "@/workbench/contributions";
 
 export interface TerminalPasteTarget {
@@ -120,6 +121,15 @@ export function installTerminalPaste(host: HTMLElement, paste: (text: string) =>
 export async function pasteTerminalClipboard(paste: (text: string) => void, getTarget?: Target) {
   const target = getTarget?.();
   try {
+    // WebKitGTK pastes nothing from a menu through either WebView path; the native
+    // clipboard has the text. An image-only clipboard still takes the paths below.
+    if (target && usePlatform.getState().os === "linux") {
+      const text = await readClipboardPlainText().catch(() => "");
+      if (text) {
+        if (target.current()) paste(text);
+        return;
+      }
+    }
     // Native paste preserves clipboard blobs where Clipboard.read() is unavailable.
     if (target && document.queryCommandSupported?.("paste") && document.execCommand("paste")) return;
     const images =
@@ -130,7 +140,7 @@ export async function pasteTerminalClipboard(paste: (text: string) => void, getT
           )
         : null;
     const text = target?.remote
-      ? ((await navigator.clipboard?.readText().catch(() => "")) ?? "")
+      ? await readClipboardPlainText().catch(() => "")
       : await readClipboardText(undefined, target ? (paths) => pathsText(paths, target) : undefined);
     if (target && !target.current()) return;
     if (text) {

src/features/vcs/MergeEditor.tsx

@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import { refreshNow } from "./store";
 import styles from "./MergeEditor.module.css";
 
 import type { MergeData } from "./mergeKind";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 export { MERGE_KIND, mergeInput, type MergeData } from "./mergeKind";
 
 const NOTHING_LEFT: MergeSummary = {
@@ -497,7 +498,7 @@ export function MergeEditor({ input }: { input: EditorInput }) {
         const { from, to } = view.state.selection.main;
         if (id === "selectAll") view.dispatch({ selection: { anchor: 0, head: view.state.doc.length } });
         else if (id === "paste") {
-          const text = await navigator.clipboard?.readText().catch(() => undefined);
+          const text = await readClipboardPlainText().catch(() => undefined);
           if (text !== undefined) view.dispatch({ ...view.state.replaceSelection(text), userEvent: "input.paste" });
         } else {
           await copyText(view.state.sliceDoc(from, to));

src/features/vcs/compare.tsx

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export { compareFilesData, displayPath } from "./compareData";
 import { openDiff, openVcsDiff, type DiffData } from "./diffInput";
 import { baseName } from "./model";
 import { tx } from "@/platform/i18n";
+import { readClipboardPlainText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 
 function argPath(arg: unknown): string | undefined {
   if (typeof arg === "string") return arg;
@@ -285,7 +286,7 @@ export function registerCompareActions(): () => void {
         if (!path) return info("Open or select a file to compare with the clipboard");
         let clipboard: string;
         try {
-          clipboard = (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+          clipboard = await readClipboardPlainText();
         } catch {
           return info("The clipboard could not be read");
         }

src/features/vcs/patches.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
+import { readClipboardPlainText, writeClipboardText } from "@/platform/clipboard";
 import { commitRepo } from "./multiRoot";
 /** Create Patch… (from local changes or commits) and Apply Patch… (file or clipboard, with a preview). */
 import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ export async function showApplyPatch(from: "file" | "clipboard", path?: string)
   let source = "Clipboard";
   try {
     if (from === "clipboard") {
-      text = await navigator.clipboard.readText();
+      text = await readClipboardPlainText();
     } else {
       let file = path ?? null;
       if (!file) {

src/platform/clipboard.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,19 @@ export async function writeClipboardText(text: string): Promise<void> {
   else await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
 }
 
+/**
+ * The clipboard's plain text, read natively where the backend can (macOS, Linux), else
+ * through the WebView. A Paste from a menu has no paste event to read, and WebKitGTK's
+ * `navigator.clipboard.readText()` gives no text there. Rejects when the WebView refuses.
+ */
+export async function readClipboardPlainText(): Promise<string> {
+  if (isTauri()) {
+    const text = await call(commands.clipboardText()).catch(() => null);
+    if (text != null) return text;
+  }
+  return (await navigator.clipboard?.readText()) ?? "";
+}
+
 type FormatFiles = (paths: string[]) => string;
 const rawPaths: FormatFiles = (paths) => paths.join("\n");
 
@@ -15,9 +28,7 @@ export async function readClipboardText(
   transfer?: DataTransfer | null,
   formatFiles: FormatFiles = rawPaths,
 ): Promise<string> {
-  const text = transfer
-    ? transfer.getData("text/plain")
-    : ((await navigator.clipboard?.readText().catch(() => "")) ?? "");
+  const text = transfer ? transfer.getData("text/plain") : await readClipboardPlainText().catch(() => "");
   if ((text && formatFiles === rawPaths) || (transfer && !hasClipboardFiles(transfer)) || !isTauri()) return text;
   let paths: string[];
   try {