diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.test.ts
index 025deea516..76eb0bcac3 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.test.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
       debug: vi.fn(),
       warn: vi.fn(),
     },
+    Storage: class {
+      getProjectTempDir = vi.fn(() => '/tmp/global');
+    },
   };
 });
 
@@ -169,7 +172,7 @@ describe('clipboardUtils', () => {
 
   describe('saveClipboardImage (Linux)', () => {
     const mockTargetDir = '/tmp/target';
-    const mockTempDir = path.join(mockTargetDir, '.gemini-clipboard');
+    const mockTempDir = path.join('/tmp/global', 'images');
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       setPlatform('linux');
@@ -240,6 +243,7 @@ describe('clipboardUtils', () => {
 
       const result = await promise;
 
+      expect(result).toContain(mockTempDir);
       expect(result).toMatch(/clipboard-\d+\.png$/);
       expect(spawn).toHaveBeenCalledWith('wl-paste', expect.any(Array));
       expect(fs.mkdir).toHaveBeenCalledWith(mockTempDir, { recursive: true });
@@ -310,15 +314,18 @@ describe('clipboardUtils', () => {
 
   // Stateless functions continue to use static imports
   describe('cleanupOldClipboardImages', () => {
+    const mockTargetDir = '/tmp/target';
     it('should not throw errors', async () => {
       // Should handle missing directories gracefully
       await expect(
-        cleanupOldClipboardImages('/path/that/does/not/exist'),
+        cleanupOldClipboardImages(mockTargetDir),
       ).resolves.not.toThrow();
     });
 
     it('should complete without errors on valid directory', async () => {
-      await expect(cleanupOldClipboardImages('.')).resolves.not.toThrow();
+      await expect(
+        cleanupOldClipboardImages(mockTargetDir),
+      ).resolves.not.toThrow();
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.ts
index 0804a7ef9e..99ead45736 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
   spawnAsync,
   unescapePath,
   escapePath,
+  Storage,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 
 /**
@@ -244,19 +245,33 @@ const saveFileWithXclip = async (tempFilePath: string) => {
   return false;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Gets the directory where clipboard images should be stored for a specific project.
+ *
+ * This uses the global temporary directory but creates a project-specific subdirectory
+ * based on the hash of the project path (via `Storage.getProjectTempDir()`).
+ * This prevents path conflicts between different projects while keeping the images
+ * outside of the user's project directory.
+ *
+ * @param targetDir The root directory of the current project.
+ * @returns The absolute path to the images directory.
+ */
+function getProjectClipboardImagesDir(targetDir: string): string {
+  const storage = new Storage(targetDir);
+  const baseDir = storage.getProjectTempDir();
+  return path.join(baseDir, 'images');
+}
+
 /**
  * Saves the image from clipboard to a temporary file (macOS, Windows, and Linux)
  * @param targetDir The target directory to create temp files within
  * @returns The path to the saved image file, or null if no image or error
  */
 export async function saveClipboardImage(
-  targetDir?: string,
+  targetDir: string,
 ): Promise<string | null> {
   try {
-    // Create a temporary directory for clipboard images within the target directory
-    // This avoids security restrictions on paths outside the target directory
-    const baseDir = targetDir || process.cwd();
-    const tempDir = path.join(baseDir, '.gemini-clipboard');
+    const tempDir = getProjectClipboardImagesDir(targetDir);
     await fs.mkdir(tempDir, { recursive: true });
 
     // Generate a unique filename with timestamp
@@ -378,11 +393,10 @@ export async function saveClipboardImage(
  * @param targetDir The target directory where temp files are stored
  */
 export async function cleanupOldClipboardImages(
-  targetDir?: string,
+  targetDir: string,
 ): Promise<void> {
   try {
-    const baseDir = targetDir || process.cwd();
-    const tempDir = path.join(baseDir, '.gemini-clipboard');
+    const tempDir = getProjectClipboardImagesDir(targetDir);
     const files = await fs.readdir(tempDir);
     const oneHourAgo = Date.now() - 60 * 60 * 1000;
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.windows.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.windows.test.ts
index 714c631640..042702073c 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.windows.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/clipboardUtils.windows.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
   return {
     ...actual,
     spawnAsync: vi.fn(),
+    Storage: class {
+      getProjectTempDir = vi.fn(() => "C:\\User's Files");
+    },
   };
 });