How to Set Up a Self-Hosted Bitwarden Add-On on Home Assistant
The same Home Assistant server that makes your home smart can also run other services, such as Bitwarden. All you need to do is set up a self-hosted Bitwarden Server on top of your Home Assistant installation as an add-on. You can then use this Bitwarden server to create and save complex passwords on your smartphone or within a web browser on your PC.
The best part is you will never have to pay for the password manager service as it’s completely open-source and free.
Things You Will Need
You will needHome Assistant Server running on a Raspberry Pi(preferably on a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB or 8GB). Although it’s possible to alsoinstall Home Assistant Server on a PCor other hardware, since that version is non-supervised, you will have to install and configure the add-ons manually via the Command Line shell.
Once you have set up Home Assistant on the Raspberry Pi, follow the steps below to install, configure and deploy Bitwarden.
Install the Bitwarden Add-On
To install the Bitwarden add-on in Home Assistant, follow these steps:
If you can’t find it, clickthis link>Open linkto add the repository and then search and install the Bitwarden add-on.
You can now visit the IP of your Home Assistant Server with port7277. For instance,192.168.0.111:7277.
You may also click on the open Web UI button on the add-on page to open the Bitwarden Web UI. However, you cannot create an account or register unless you secure the Bitwarden Server.
Configure the SSL using Cloudflared Tunnel
In the Home Assistant Server, you can install and use the Cloudflared add-on to expose the local Bitwarden server to the internet with secure SSL/TLS encryption. Once you start the Cloudflared tunnel, you or other users for whom you create accounts in Bitwarden can easily access and manage their password vaults from across all their devices.
The steps are as follows:
You can now sign up and create user accounts for yourself and your family and friends.
Disable Sign-Ups
Currently, anyone with your Bitwarden URL can sign up and create vaults. To avoid this, it’s possible to disable sign-ups. For this, you need to access the Bitwarden admin panel at the following address:
https://bitwarden.yourdomainname.org/admin
Then paste theadmin token(get the admin token/password in the logs) to open the admin panel. If you don’t see the access token, re-install the add-on again and then check the log again after starting the add-on.
The add-on shows the admin token only once. Note it down somewhere safe.
Once you access the admin panel, you can edit and change various settings, including disabling sign-ups. You can also enable two-factor authentication and create policies on how users can access and use their Bitwarden accounts hosted on your Home Assistant Server.
Use Bitwarden on Android or iOS Devices
To access and use Bitwarden on your Android or iOS device, you need to install the Bitwarden Password manager App from the Google Play Store or App Store.
Once the app is installed, follow these steps on your Android or iOS device:
Setup Bitwarden on Web Browser
To access and use the Bitwarden Server and accounts on your web browsers, you need to install the Bitwarden password manager extension. The extension is available for all major web browsers, such as Chrome, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, etc.
After installing the Extension, follow these steps to configure it and access or save all your passwords securely on your web browsers across all devices.
The steps are more or less similar to other web browsers.
Free Password Manager for Lifetime
Now that setup is complete, you can export all your passwords from your web browser in JSON or CSV format and import them directly into your BitWarden vault.
With a self-hosted Bitwarden Server, you will never have to get a subscription for a password manager. Secured with SSL/TLS via Cloudflared tunnel and multi-factor authentication (MFA), your server remains secure, and the passwords remain encrypted on all your devices. The passwords are also auto-synced across all your devices. Plus Bitwarden will also notify you if any of your passwords are found in leaks or data breaches.
If you can nail this DIY project, you may never have to pay for cloud storage again.
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