Today's Deep-Dive: Vaultwarden

Welcome back for another deep dive. This time we're going to check out Vault Warden.

Vault Warden? Yeah, Vault Warden. Think Bitwarden, but the open source version.

And you sent over some really cool stuff about this docs on GitHub,

some info about a community server. Oh, nice. Yeah.

My inner geek is pretty excited.

And one of the first things that really caught my eye was that it's built on Rust.

Rust. Yeah. You know, the programming language. Oh yeah. Yeah. And, uh,

well for folks who maybe aren't familiar with that,

Rust is really well known for its speed and security,

which are both pretty important when you're talking about a password manager.

Right. Oh, for sure. And get this.

It's got almost all the same features as the official Bitwarden. Wow.

And there's even a free public version you can use. Really?

That's amazing. The fact that it's so popular. I know, right? Yeah.

It's got like 39.5 K stars on GitHub and almost 2000 forks.

Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. Those might be Ricky numbers.

If we were talking about baseball, but in the open source world,

that's a pretty clear sign that this project's got some serious momentum

behind it. Oh, absolutely.

When you see that kind of activity around an open source project,

it's a really great indicator, you know,

because open source really thrives on having a lot of different people looking

at the code, right? More eyes, more eyes. Exactly.

So it's kind of like crowdsourced security and continuous improvement built

right in built right in. Yeah. Okay.

So let's dive into what vault warden can actually do. Okay.

The GitHub Wiki is packed with features to like a buffet. It is.

It's a features buffet.

You've got personal and organization vaults, two factor authentication,

which we're going to spend some more time on later. It's super important.

It's so important. Yeah. You've got emergency access.

They even support things like YubiKey and the Fido two web often standard.

Oh, wow. Not messing around. No kidding.

That really shows that it's not just a watered down, you know,

like a cheap knockoff version of Bitwarden.

It's really got everything giving you most of what the official service offers.

Yeah. All that. And it's open source. Yeah, exactly.

And here's where it gets really interesting,

especially for anyone out there who likes to tinker. Okay.

One of the things that makes Vaultwarden so great for self-hosting is that it's

super lightweight. Oh, okay. We're talking like,

it uses about half the Ram compared to running the official Bitwarden server.

Wow. That's efficient. Yeah.

So you could run this on some older hardware, you know,

a Raspberry Pi tucked away in a closet somewhere. Oh, that's great.

Super resource efficient.

And that efficiency actually ties into a bigger point,

which is why people are so drawn to self-hosting in the first place. Okay.

It's about control. Right.

Having Vaultwarden running on your own server means you're the one calling the

shots. You're the boss. You're the boss.

You choose where your data is stored, who has access. Right.

It's a big win for the privacy conscious folks out there. Absolutely.

Now I know not everyone is comfortable with setting up their own server,

which is where this public Vaultwarden instance you sent over comes in.

This thing is running on a Kubernetes cluster, which I know it sounds a little

intimidating. It does sound like a supervillains layer. Right.

But it's actually a really clever way to make sure the service stays up and

running 24 seven. Yeah.

Think of Kubernetes like an orchestra conductor for your servers.

They make sure the music, which in this case is your access to Vaultwarden,

never stops. Even if one of the instruments, in this case,

a server goes out of tune. I love that analogy. That's a good one, right?

This is what we call high availability and it's basically essential for any

service that you rely on for something as important as your passwords.

So this public instance is pretty tempting, right? Yeah. I mean,

no messing around with configurations or server updates, right?

Just pure simple password management. Absolutely. But you know,

with anything in life, there are always trade-offs. Oh, there always are.

Even with the best Kubernetes setup out there,

no online service can promise you a hundred percent uptime.

Of course not. Things happen. You know, servers have hiccups.

Sometimes the internet gremlins come out to play. Yeah. The internet gremlins.

So backups, backups are key no matter what you decide.

Backups are your best friend. Exactly.

Whether you go the self-hosted route or you decide to use a public instance.

Preach. Okay. So before we get too far down the rabbit hole here,

we should address the elephant in the room,

which is the disclaimer on the vault warden GitHub page. Okay.

It very clearly states that this project is not officially linked to

Bitwarden or Bitwarden Inc. Right.

And that's super important for folks to understand. Yeah.

So one of the maintainers actually works at Bitwarden. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And they contribute to this project in their personal time,

which is pretty awesome. That's cool. But at its core,

vault warden is a community driven project.

So it's not like you can just call it Bitwarden support if you run into a

problem. Exactly. You're relying on the community. Yeah.

Which depending on how you look at it can be good or bad.

Could be a blessing or a curse, right? You know,

the community can be incredibly helpful, super resourceful. They really can,

but there's also no official safety net, right?

There's no guarantee of any kind of long-term roadmap or anything like that.

It's more like a wild, exciting ride where the destination is always changing.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

Which brings us to how the project got its name.

So it was originally Bitwarden RS. Bitwarden RS. Yeah. The RS was for rust,

you know, keeping it simple. Makes sense.

But they eventually landed on Vault Warden to, you know,

avoid any trademark problems and to make it crystal clear that this is its own

thing. Right. Its own separate thing. Yeah. Its own beast. Totally.

And I think that was a smart move because that clear separation helps users make

more informed choices about which solution really fits their needs. Right.

Right. And let's be honest, their comfort level with a little bit of risk.

So what are your initial thoughts? What's jumping out at you so far?

Well, one thing that I find really interesting is, uh,

it's really how Vault Warden is kind of like a poster child for this whole

movement we're seeing of open source alternatives popping up in the security and

privacy world. Yeah. You know, it's not just about getting something for free,

it's about transparency control. And I really love that community vibe.

Totally. Yeah.

Now we've been throwing around this term self-hosting a lot. We have,

but for anyone listening who might be new to this whole thing,

can you break it down for us?

Like imagine you're explaining it to your tech challenged grandma.

What exactly is self-hosting? Okay. So imagine you're baking a cake.

Okay. I like where this is going.

You could go to the store and buy one, you know, pre-made, ready to go. Right.

Or you could bake it yourself from scratch. Yeah. You choose the ingredients,

the frosting. You're in control. You're in control of the whole process. Exactly.

Self-hosting is kind of like baking your own password manager cake. Okay.

I like that. You're running the software on your own server. Okay.

Which could be a computer that you own or like a virtual one that you rent online.

Okay. But you're in control of the recipe, so to speak. Yeah.

So no more relying on those big tech companies to handle your precious

passwords. Right. But let's be real for a second. Okay.

Doesn't self-hosting require like some serious tech skills?

I mean, it can seem a little daunting at first.

I'm picturing like lines of code scrolling down a dark screen,

like in the matrix. Yeah, exactly.

But one of the great things about Vault Warden is that they've made the self

hosting setup surprisingly straightforward, especially if you're familiar with

Docker, which is basically like a little container that makes running software

super easy. Plus their documentation is excellent, really step by step.

And the community forums are packed with helpful folks who are ready to jump in

and help if you get stuck. Nice. Speaking of documentation. Yeah.

I have to say, I was really impressed with how thorough it was. It's great.

They cover everything from installing Vault Warden on different operating

systems, like windows, Mac, Linux, the whole gang, the whole gang. Yeah.

Just setting up something called a reverse proxy,

which sounds kind of complicated. It sounds scary,

but it's basically just a bouncer for your server,

making sure only the right people get in. Got it.

They even have guides on how to integrate with external authentication services.

That's impressive. It's wild.

It really is a testament to how passionate the open source community behind Vault

Warden is. Yeah.

They've really put in the work to make self-hosting accessible. Yeah.

Even for folks who, you know, maybe don't have a computer science degree. Right.

Right. And for those who want a little bit more handholding,

there are always those third party packages out there that can simplify things

even further. Totally. Yeah. Like if you want to order that pre-made cake,

but still maybe add your own sprinkles. Exactly. Yeah.

Just remember with those pre-packaged solutions,

you might be giving up a bit of control or flexibility.

So always do your research and make sure you understand what you're getting into.

Always a good idea. Okay.

Let's switch gears for a sec and talk about the big one. Security.

How does Volt Warden stack up against the official Bitwarden when it comes to

keeping our passwords safe? Well, you know,

security is really the most important thing when it comes to password managers,

right? Oh, absolutely. And Volt Warden has a bit of a secret weapon up at

sleeve. Okay. And that weapon is Rust. Okay. Rust, the programming language.

Yeah, exactly. Think of it like a programming language that's obsessed with safety.

Okay. It pretty much eliminates entire categories of vulnerabilities.

Oh wow. Like buffer overflows,

which are these nasty exploits that have plagued software for years.

Not good. No, not good. So Rust helps prevent that. Yeah.

The rest makes it much harder for those kinds of vulnerabilities to even exist.

Okay. That's good. And on top of that, you know,

you've got thousands of eyes constantly looking at the code.

It's like having an army of security guards patrolling your vault. Yeah.

If there's a weakness, someone's probably going to spot it before the bad guys

do. That's the power of open source. Exactly. Open source security.

It's all out in the open. Transparent. Transparent. Yeah.

So bugs and vulnerabilities can be spotted and fixed quickly.

Yeah. But remember whether you're on team vault warden or team bit warden,

keeping your software updated is super important. Yeah.

Those updates are critical. They're like security system upgrades,

patching up any holes that might've popped up. Okay.

So speaking of security upgrades,

let's talk about two factor authentication or two FAs. The cool kids call it.

Two FAs. Yeah. This is a must have for any password manager, right?

It's like having a guard dog, A and D, a security system. Okay.

It means that even if someone gets ahold of your password,

they still need a second piece of information to actually get into your

account. Right. Right. Think of it like a secret knock or a fingerprint scan.

Yeah. An extra layer of protection. Exactly.

So even if you accidentally fall for one of those phishing scams,

Oh, those are nasty. They are. But with two F a, your account is still safe.

That's good to know.

And vault warden supports a ton of different two F a methods from those handy

authenticator apps on your phone. Right. To those physical security keys like UB

key. Yeah. Which are basically like little mini vaults for your digital life.

Very cool. It really is a must have these days. Absolutely.

I wouldn't trust a password manager without two F a. Yeah.

It's like leaving your front door wide open with a sign that says free stuff

inside. Exactly. And speaking of planning for the unexpected,

let's talk about emergency access, which, you know,

that not the most fun topic. No, but important, but it's something we should all

think about. It's like that saying two is one and one is none. Right.

Good one.

You never want to rely on just one thing when it comes to something as important

as your passwords. Yeah. Yeah. With emergency access,

you can choose a trusted friend, family member,

or colleague who can get into your vault if something happens to you. Right.

Just in case. Just in case. Yeah. Yeah. You know,

what if you win that one way ticket to Mars or accidentally spill coffee on your

laptop and fry everything? Yeah. The digital world is full of dangers.

It is. So it's like having a digital will for your passwords. Okay.

Making sure those accounts don't get lost forever. That's a good way to put it.

You know,

I've been really impressed with how much information and documentation vault

warden provides. Amazing. Right. But what about ongoing support?

What happens if you run into a problem that isn't covered in the Wiki? Well,

that's where the community comes in. Okay.

Vault warden has a super active and helpful community forum. Okay.

Think of it like a virtual water cooler. Okay.

Where users can share tips, ask questions and help each other out.

That's great.

You might even find some of the developers hanging out there offering their

expertise. Oh cool.

So even though it's not official support, like you'd get with a paid service,

there's still a whole network of folks ready to help out. Exactly.

And that's one of the really cool things about open source projects. Okay.

There's this sense of shared ownership, right?

And everyone benefits from that collective knowledge and experience.

I like that. So we've explored a ton about vault warden. We have the features,

the ins and outs of self hosting, the security aspects, the community vibe.

What does all of this mean for someone who's trying to decide between vault

warden and just sticking with the official bit warden service?

The million dollar question, although in this case,

it might be more about peace of mind than actual dollars.

That's a good point. It's all about figuring out what you value most.

Exactly.

Do you prioritize convenience and a polished user friendly

experience? Okay. Or is it more about control transparency,

being part of something bigger?

So if you're the kind of person who likes things simple,

the official bit warden service might be the way to go. Yeah. It's sleek,

user friendly. They've got a dedicated support team. Right.

Always there to answer your questions. Like ordering takeout, you know, quick,

easy, and someone else does the dishes.

But if you're more of a roll up your sleeves kind of person,

someone who enjoys tinkering and likes the idea of having full control

over their data. Yeah. Well, vault warden might be calling your name.

It might be.

And remember you don't have to be a server wizard to go the self hosted route.

You don't. That's where the beauty of that public vault warden instincts comes

in. Right. You can dick your toes into the self hosting cool without having to

dive head first into the deep end. I like that.

You get the control and the transparency without all the servers set up headaches.

It really does seem like when it comes to managing your passwords these days,

you can choose your own adventure. That's a great way to put it.

And no matter which path you choose, bit warden or vault warden,

self hosted or public instance.

The important thing is that you're taking steps to protect your digital life.

Absolutely. That's like wearing a seatbelt for your online accounts.

I love that a seatbelt for your online accounts.

So as we wrap up our deep dive into the world of vault warden,

I want to leave you with this thought.

How do you value the trade-off between the convenience of a commercial service

like big warden and the control and potential privacy benefits of a

community driven project like vault warden?

It's a great question to think about as you're navigating this ever changing

world of online security and data privacy.

Choosing a password manager is a personal decision for sure,

and there's no right or wrong answer. Right.

But hopefully this deep dive has given you the information you need to make a

choice that works for you. Absolutely.

A huge thanks to our expert for joining us today. My pleasure.

It was great to be here and to everyone listening.

Thanks for joining us on another deep dive. We'll see you next time.

It's really grabbing me is how vault warden is kind of like a poster

child for this whole movement of open source alternatives,

you know, popping up in the security and privacy world.

It's not just about getting something for free, right? It's about transparency.

It's about control. It's about this, this awesome community vibe.

It really highlights how people are thinking about protecting their digital

lives these days. It's like saying, Hey, I don't just want to trust a black box.

I want to know what's going on. I want to understand how it works.

And I want to be part of a community that's actively making things better.

Totally. Now we've been throwing around this term self-hosting quite a bit.

We have, but for anyone listening, who might be new to this whole thing, right?

Can you kind of break it down for us?

Like imagine you're explaining it to your tech challenged grandma.

What exactly is self-hosting?

Okay. So imagine you're baking a cake. Okay. I like where this is going.

You could go to the store and buy one pre-made and ready to go. Right.

Or you could bake it yourself from scratch, choose all the ingredients,

the frosting, everything. Yeah. You're in control.

You're in control of the whole process. Exactly.

That's kind of what self-hosting is like.

It's like baking your own password manager cake. I like that analogy.

You're running the software on your own server. Okay.

Whether that's a computer you own or like a virtual one that you rent online.

Okay. But you're in control of the recipe, so to speak. Got it.

So no more relying on those big tech companies to handle your precious passwords.

Right.

But let's be real. Doesn't self-hosting require some serious tech skills?

It can seem daunting. I'm picturing like lines of code scrolling down a dark screen.

Like the matrix. Yeah, exactly.

But the cool thing about Vault Warden is that they've actually made the self-hosting

setup surprisingly straightforward. Oh, really?

Especially if you're familiar with Docker. Okay.

Which is basically like a little container that makes running software super easy.

Okay. Plus their documentation is excellent. Good. Very step by step.

That's good. And their community forums are packed with helpful people who are

ready to jump in if you get stuck. Nice. Right. Speaking of documentation,

I was super impressed with how thorough it was. It's great.

They cover everything from installing Vault Warden on different operating systems

like Windows, Mac, Linux, the whole gang. Yeah, the whole gang.

To setting up something called a reverse proxy. Ooh,

which sounds kind of complicated,

but it's basically like a bouncer for your server,

making sure only the right people can get in. Okay.

They even have guides for integrating with external authentication services.

Wow. That's impressive. It's wild.

It really shows how much the open source community cares about this project.

Yeah.

They've put in a lot of work to make self-hosting accessible for people who

maybe don't have a computer science degree. Right.

And for those who want a little more handholding,

there are always those third party packages out there that can simplify things

even further. Totally. It's like ordering that pre-made cake,

but you still get to add your own sprinkles. Just remember with those prepackaged

solutions, you might be giving up some control or flexibility. Okay.

So always do your research, make sure you know what you're getting into.

Good advice. All right.

Let's shift gears for a second and talk about the big one. Security. Okay.

How does Vault Warden stack up against the official Bitwarden when it comes to

keeping our passwords safe?

Well,

security is really the name of the game when it comes to password managers.

And Vault Warden has a kind of secret weapon. Okay. It's built using Rust.

Okay. Rust, the programming language. Yeah, exactly.

Think of Rust as this programming language that's obsessed with safety. Okay.

It pretty much gets rid of entire categories of vulnerabilities like buffer

overflows, which are these nasty little exploits that have been causing problems

for years. Yeah. Those are bad. They're bad news. And with Rust,

they're much less likely to happen. Okay.

Plus you've got thousands of people looking at the code all the time. Right.

More eyes. More eyes. Exactly.

It's like having an army of security guards protecting your vault.

So if there's a weakness, someone's going to spot it. Chances are. Yeah.

Someone's going to catch it before the bad guys do.

That's the beauty of open source. It is open source.

Security means everything's out in the open. Total transparency. Yeah.

So bugs and vulnerabilities can be found and fixed quickly. But remember,

whether you're a team vault warden or team bit warden,

keeping your software up to date is super important.

Those updates are critical. They're like security system upgrades. Right.

They patch up any holes that might shown up. Okay. Speaking of security upgrades,

let's talk about two factor authentication or two FA.

This is a must have for any password manager, right?

It's like having a guard dog and the, a security system. Okay.

I like that. So even if someone somehow gets your password,

they still need something else to get into your account. Okay.

It's like a secret knock or a fingerprint scan.

So even if you fall for one of those phishing scams, those are the worst,

but with two FA, your account is still protected. That's good to know.

And vault warden supports a ton of different two FA methods from those

authenticator apps on your phone, right? To those physical security keys,

like Yubi key, which are like tiny little vaults for your digital life.

I like that. It's really non-negotiable these days. Isn't it? Pretty much.

I wouldn't trust a password manager without two FA. Yeah.

It's like leaving your front door wide open with a sign that says free stuff

inside. Exactly.

And while we're talking about planning for the unexpected,

we should touch on emergency access.

It's not the most fun topic, right? But it's important. It is. You know,

it's like that saying two is one and one is none. Right. Yeah.

You never want to rely on just one thing when it comes to the something as

crucial as your passwords. Exactly. Yeah. So with emergency access,

you can choose a trusted person, a friend, family member,

colleague who can get into your vault if something happens to you. Right.

Just in case. Just in case. Yeah.

You win that one way ticket to Mars or you spill coffee on your laptop and

fry the whole thing. All sorts of digital dangers out there. Exactly.

It's like having a digital will for your passwords. I like that.

Making sure those important accounts don't disappear. You know,

I've been super impressed with all the information and documentation that vault

warden provides. Great. But what about ongoing support?

What happens if you run into a problem that isn't covered in the Wiki?

Well, that's where the community really shines.

Vault warden has this amazing community forum. Okay.

Think of it like a virtual water cooler. All right.

Where users can share tips, ask questions, help each other out.

You might even find some of the developers hanging out there offering their

expertise. Oh, that's cool.

So even though it's not official support, like you'd get from a paid service,

there's still this whole network of people who are there to help.

So it's like crowdsourced support. Exactly.

And that's one of the best things about open source projects in general.

There's this shared sense of ownership and everyone benefits from the

collective knowledge and experience of the community. I like that. All right.

So we've talked a lot about Vault Warden. We have the features,

the ins and outs of self-hosting, the security, the community.

What does all of this mean for someone who's trying to decide between going with

Vault Warden and sticking with the official Bitwarden service?

Ah, that's the million dollar question. Right. But in this case,

it might be more about peace of mind than actual dollars.

It's all about figuring out what you value most. Exactly. Yeah.

Do you value convenience, a really polished user-friendly experience?

Okay. Or is it more about control,

transparency, being a part of something bigger?

So if you're the kind of person who likes things simple,

the official Bitwarden service might be the way to go. Yeah. It's sleek.

It's easy to use.

There's a dedicated support team standing by to answer all your questions.

It's like order and takeout. Okay. Quick, easy. Someone else does the dishes.

But if you're, you know, more hands-on, if you like to tinker,

you like the idea of having full control over your data. Okay.

Well, Vault Warden might be right up your alley. It might be. Yeah.

And remember you don't have to be a server whiz to go the self-hosted route.

Right. Right. That's where that public Vault Warden instance comes in. Yeah.

It's like dipping your toes in the self-hosting pool. Okay.

Without having to do a cannonball into the deep end. I like that.

You get that control, you get that transparency,

but without the headache of setting up your own.

It seems like these days when it comes to managing your passwords,

it's like you get to choose your own adventure.

That's a great way to put it. But no matter which path you choose,

Bitwarden or Vault Warden, self-hosted or public instance. Right.

The important thing is that you're taking steps to protect yourself online.

Absolutely. It's like wearing a seatbelt for your online accounts.

I love that analogy, a seatbelt for your online accounts.

So as we wrap up our deep dive into the world of Vault Warden,

I want to leave you with this thought.

How do you value the trade-off between the convenience of a commercial service

like Bitwarden,

and the control and potential privacy benefits of a community driven project

like Vault Warden?

It's a question we're thinking about as we all navigate this ever evolving world

of online security and privacy. For sure.

Choosing a password manager is a personal decision. It is.

And there's really no one right answer. Everyone's different.

Everyone's got different needs and priorities, but hopefully this deep dive has

given you the info you need to make an informed choice.

Absolutely. A huge thanks to our expert for joining us today.

You as my pleasure.

We'll see you next time.

We'll see you next time.