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Vaultwarden: Your Password Box

🔐 Vaultwarden: Your Password Box

Who can use this: Everyone with an account on our server.

What is a Password Manager?

Imagine a digital safe that only you can open. Instead of remembering many different keys (passwords) for every door (website), you only need one strong key to open the safe. Inside, the safe keeps all your other keys safe and organized.

A password manager:

  • Creates strong, hard-to-guess passwords for you.

  • Remembers them so you don't have to.

  • Fills them in automatically when you need to log in.

What are Vaultwarden and Bitwarden?

Bitwarden is a famous, free, and open-source password manager used by millions of people. It is the official company that makes the apps you see on phones and computers.

Vaultwarden is a lightweight version of the Bitwarden server. It is built by the community to run on smaller computers, like our homeserver.

  • The Magic: You use the official Bitwarden apps, but instead of saving your data on Bitwarden's big cloud servers, your data stays here on our private server. You get the same great app, but with more privacy and control.

Why is this better than remembering passwords yourself?

If you manage passwords on each device separately (like saving them only in Chrome or only on your iPhone):

  • ❌ Confusion: You might forget a password you saved on your phone when you sit at your computer.

  • ❌ Risk: If you lose your device, you lose all your logins.

  • ❌ Limits: It is hard to use special security codes (TOTP) or new Passkeys when switching between different types of devices (like from an iPhone to a Windows PC).

With our centralized Vaultwarden:

  • ✅ One Truth: Change a password on your phone, and it instantly updates on your laptop.

  • ✅ Safety: Your data is backed up on our server. If you lose a device, your passwords are safe.

  • ✅ Freedom: Features like TOTP (those 6-digit changing codes for extra security) and Passkeys work everywhere. You are not stuck using only Apple or only Google products.

How to Start Using It

You do not download a "Vaultwarden" app. You download the official Bitwarden apps.

⚠️ Important: The links below go to external official websites (like the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Bitwarden's website). These sites are not part of our local server. They are safe, official sources from the Bitwarden company.

Step 1: Download the App

AfterChoose youthe installapp anfor app,your you must tell it to connect to our server address (we will give you this address separately).device:

Step 2: Connect to Our Server

This is the most important step! By default, the app tries to connect to the public cloud. You must change this to connect to our private server.

    Open the Bitwarden app you just installed.

    Look for a button that says Settings (often a gear icon ⚙️) or Self-hosted environment.

    Find the field labeled Server URL or Self-hosted API URL.

    Type in our server address exactly: https://pass.necc.me

    Save the settings. The app might restart.

    Step 3: Log In with Your Account

    Since you already have an account on our server, we use a special "Single Sign-On" method. This means you use the same login you use for other services on our server.

    ⚠️ Don't be confused by the name "Enterprise"! In the Bitwarden app, the button for this type of login is called "Enterprise Single Sign-On" .

      Do not worry: This is just the technical name Bitwarden uses for this feature.

      How to log in:

        Open the app and enter your email address. Click Continue.

        On the next screen, click the button that says Enterprise Single Sign-On.

        You might be asked for an SSO Identifier. If it logs you in automatically without asking, that is great!

          You will be redirected to our familiar login page (Authentik). Log in with your usual username and password.

          If this is your first time, you will be asked to create a Master Password. This is a special password just and only just for your Bitwarden app. Do not forget this! It unlocks your safe. If you loose this, it is unrecoverable, do not even ask the server owner, it is permanently lost. This is by security design.

          Write down your Master Password to a piece of paper and keep it safe!