vaultio is an unofficial Python API for managing Bitwarden vaults via the Bitwarden CLI. Instead of launching a new CLI process for each operation, it runs the CLI once in the background and communicates with it through a private socket connection. This improves performance and provides a secure method for using the serve API to build tools and scripts.
The API is built around the stateful Express web server launched by the bw serve command. This server exposes a local REST API for performing vault actions. vaultio wraps this API internally and delegates all actions to the Bitwarden CLI.
Note:
vaultiodoes not cache or store credentials. All requests are proxied directly to the background process.
pip install vaultiocd python
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install poetry
poetry installBy default, bw serve exposes its API via HTTP over TCP, which can be less secure since other users or apps might access the unlocked vault without proper firewall rules.
You can either:
- Ensure
bwis available in yourPATH, or - Run:
vaultio buildThis installs the CLI from the official NPM package @bitwarden/cli.
I made a pull request that introduces support for Unix sockets and other socket types in bw serve. This allows communication without traversing the network stack, improving security.
To enable this:
- Manually build from the fork: Game4Move78/vaults#vaultio and copy the binary to:
$HOME/.cache/vaultio/bin/bw- Or, let
vaultiohandle it for you:
vaultio --unofficialThis will clone the repo and build it locally. Then it will show you a diff against the official repo before prompting you to continue.
See the full API reference.
vaultio --helpfrom vaultio.vault import Vault
with Vault() as vault:
print(vault.status())
print(vault.unlock())
print(vault.status())
for item in vault.list():
print(item["name"])
for folder in vault.list(type="folder"):
print(folder["name"])Not currently supported directly, but it's possible using Caddy.
BitwardenDecryptfor the code to decrypt a vault and derive keysrbwfor the API calls
PyWardenis a Python Bitwarden CLI wrapper
This project is not associated with https://bitwarden.com/ or Bitwarden, Inc. These contributions are independent of Bitwarden and are reviewed by other maintainers.
Please note: We cannot be held liable for any data loss that may occur while using vaultio. This includes passwords, attachments, and other information handled by the application. We highly recommend performing regular backups of your files and database. However, should you experience data loss, we encourage you to contact us immediately.