Vaultwarden
A private password manager, compatible with the Bitwarden apps.
What it is
Vaultwarden stores your passwords encrypted, and syncs them between your devices. It speaks the same protocol as Bitwarden, so you use the official Bitwarden browser extensions and phone apps with it — you simply point them at your server instead of Bitwarden's.
Your vault is encrypted before it leaves your device, so even we cannot read it.
Good for
- A household or small team sharing credentials safely
- Anyone who wants a password manager they host themselves
Getting in
- Open the link on your console page and create your account.
- Install the Bitwarden extension or app.
- In its settings, before logging in, set the Server URL to your address.
- Log in with the account you just made.
Your own address, port and any credentials are on your server's console page, reached from your dashboard. They are specific to your server, so they are not repeated here.
Things that catch people out
Your master password cannot be recovered
That is the point of the design — nobody, including us, can decrypt your vault without it. Write it down and keep it somewhere physical.
Set the server URL before logging in
The Bitwarden apps default to Bitwarden's own servers. If login fails with the right password, this is almost always why.
Where your data lives
The encrypted vault lives in a Docker volume under /opt/vaultwarden. This is the one worth having backups on.
Take a snapshot before anything risky — see Snapshots and backups.
Updating
Ubuntu patches itself, but the app does not. SSH in and run:
Take a snapshot first.