The Bitwarden command-line tool (CLI)

Bitwarden provides a powerful, full-featured command-line interface (CLI) tool to access and manage your Bitwarden vault. All features that you find in other Bitwarden client applications (desktop, browser extension, etc) are also available through the CLI. The CLI can be used cross-platform on Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions.

Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Download & Install
  • Native executable
  • NPM
  • Other Package Managers
• Session Management
  • Environment Variable
  • --session <key> Option
  • Locking
  • Login != Unlock
• Explore the CLI
• Managing Your Vault
  • Sync
  • List
  • Get
  • Create
  • Edit
  • Delete
    • --permanent Option
  • Restore
  • Share
• Other Useful Commands
  • Confirm
  • Import
  • Export
  • Generate
  • Encode
  • Config
  • Update
  • Version
• Working with JSON
• Self-signed Certificates
• Shell Completion
  • ZSH
• Source Code
• Appendix
  • Templates
  • Enums

Quick Start

1. Download and install the CLI for your platform.
2. Move bw to /usr/local/bin or another directory in your $PATH. Windows users can add bw.exe to the current user’s PATH. If you installed the CLI with NPM (or another package manager) you can skip this step since bw should automatically be added to your path.

3. Verify the bw command works in your terminal.

   bw --help
   

Download & Install

You can install the Bitwarden CLI multiple different ways:

Native executable

Natively packaged versions of the CLI for each platform have no dependencies.

• Windows x64
• macOS x64
• Linux x64

In UNIX systems you might get a Permission denied message. If you do, in order to grant permissions you can run

chmod +x </path/to/bw>

NPM

If you already have the Node.js runtime installed on your system, you can install the CLI using NPM. NPM makes it easy to keep your installation updated and should be the preferred installation method if you are already using Node.js.

npm install -g @bitwarden/cli

Other Package Managers

• Chocolatey

   choco install bitwarden-cli
  

• Homebrew

   brew install bitwarden-cli
  

• Snap

   sudo snap install bw
  

Session Management

You can log into your Bitwarden user account by using the login command:

bw login [email] [password]

After successfully logging into the CLI a session key will be returned. This session key is necessary to perform any commands that require your vault to be unlocked (list, get, edit, etc). You can pass the --raw option to login to receive only the session key from stdout.

bw login [email] [password] --raw

You should pass the session key to CLI commands by setting the BW_SESSION environment variable or by using the --session <key> option:

Environment Variable

Bash

export BW_SESSION="5PBYGU+5yt3RHcCjoeJKx/wByU34vokGRZjXpSH7Ylo8w=="
bw list items

PowerShell

$env:BW_SESSION="5PBYGU+5yt3RHcCjoeJKx/wByU34vokGRZjXpSH7Ylo8w=="
bw list items

--session <key> Option

bw list items --session 5PBYGU+5yt3RHcCjoeJKx/wByU34vokGRZjXpSH7Ylo8w==

Locking

If you do not pass the session key to commands that require it you will receive an error message that your vault is locked. You can unlock your vault and/or receive a new session key by using the unlock command:

bw unlock [password]

Additionally, you can manually lock your vault and destroy any active session keys by using the lock command:

bw lock

If your active session key is unavailable (for example, you accidentally lost it or closed your active terminal window), your vault is already considered locked and therefore using the lock command is unnecessary.

Login != Unlock

The login and unlock commands are different. login requires your email address and master password and performs authentication against the external Bitwarden server (requiring additional two-step login prompts, if configured). unlock performs local authentication only (against a persisted hash) and therefore would work even without an active internet connection or if the external Bitwarden server is not available. You cannot unlock your vault if you have not already logged in first.

Most users should prefer locking and unlocking their vault rather than logging out and logging in. This is the same process and workflow that all other Bitwarden client applications follow. A typical use case would be that a user logs into the CLI application only once and then only performs unlock commands thereafter.

Explore the CLI

The Bitwarden CLI is self-documented with --help content and examples for every command. You should start exploring the CLI by using the global --help option:

bw --help

This option will list all available commands that you can use with the CLI.

Additionally, you can use the --help option on a specific command to learn more about it:

bw list --help
bw create --help

Managing Your Vault

Sync

The sync command downloads your encrypted vault from the Bitwarden server. If you have changed something in your Bitwarden vault on another client device (for example, the browser extension) you may need to use the sync command before you will see those changes in the CLI:

bw sync

It’s important to note that the sync command is only a pull operation. It does not push data to the server since that is already done for you each time you make a change to your vault (create, edit, delete).

You can use the --last option to get an ISO 8601 timestamp of the last time a sync has been performed:

bw sync --last

List

The list command allows you to retrieve an array of objects from your vault.

bw list (items|folders|collections|organizations|org-collections|org-members) [options]

You can search the list of returned objects by using the --search option. You can also filter the list by using the --folderid, --collectionid, or --organizationid options. Combining search and filter options performs a logical AND operation.

bw list items --search github --folderid 9742101e-68b8-4a07-b5b1-9578b5f88e6f

Special syntax is available for filters that allows you to specify null and notnull as valid values. Combining multiple filters together performs a logical OR operation.

bw list items --folderid null --organizationid notnull

Get

The get command allows you to retrieve a single object from your vault.

bw get (item|username|password|uri|totp|exposed|attachment|folder|collection|organization|org-collection|template|fingerprint) <id> [options]

You can retrieve an object by its globally using id property (usually a GUID), or you can provide a search term. The search term must be specific enough to only return a single result or the CLI will return an error.

bw get item 99ee88d2-6046-4ea7-92c2-acac464b1412
bw get password https://google.com
bw get totp google
bw get exposed yahoo.com

If you are getting an attachment, you must also specify the --itemid <id> option of the item that the attachment belongs to.

bw get attachment b857igwl1dzrs2 --output ./photo.jpg \ 
    --itemid 99ee88d2-6046-4ea7-92c2-acac464b1412
bw get attachment photo.jpg --raw \
    --itemid 99ee88d2-6046-4ea7-92c2-acac464b1412

Create

The create command allows you to create new objects in your vault.

bw create (item|attachment|folder|org-collection) [encodedJson] [options]

The process for creating an object may look something like this:

1. Get the JSON template(s) for the object you are trying to create:

   bw get template folder
   

2. Edit the JSON template with the values you want to use for that object.

3. Base 64 encode the JSON string. You can use the encode command included with the CLI and pipe in the JSON string from stdin:

   echo '{"name":"My Folder"}' | bw encode
   

4. Create the item:

   bw create folder eyJuYW1lIjoiTXkgRm9sZGVyIn0=
   

The create command can also receive encoded JSON as stdin. A complete example, using jq to update a template’s JSON (see more about working with JSON below), may look something like this:

bw get template folder | jq '.name = "My Folder"' | bw encode | bw create folder

Upon success, the newly created object will be returned.

To create a new attachment for an item, specify the --file path on disk as well as the --itemid.

bw create attachment --file ./path/to/myfile.csv \
    --itemid 16b15b89-65b3-4639-ad2a-95052a6d8f66

Edit

The edit command allows you to edit an item in your vault. It works similarly to the create command with the added requirement of an object id. The edit command will perform a replace operation on the object. Upon success, the updated object will be returned.

bw edit (item|item-collections|folder|org-collection) <id> [encodedJson] [options]

bw edit folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782 eyJuYW1lIjoiV2hhdCBGb2xkZXIifQ==
bw get folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782 | jq '.name = "Updated Folder"' | \
    bw encode | bw edit folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782
echo '["86544cd3-7e07-42bb-ba3c-e7f59852acaa","ae8c6c9e-26de-442c-b63b-3e28ef61d72d"]' | \
    bw encode | bw edit item-collections db71c8d6-3e69-4593-a6de-505e94966290

Delete

The delete command allows you to delete an object from your vault. By default this command will only “soft delete” the item (sending it to your trash bin). To permanently delete an item you must use the -p, --permanent option. When calling the delete command for an item already in the trash the command will be ignored/return an error.

bw delete (item|attachment|folder|org-collection) <id> [options]

bw delete folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782
bw delete attachment b857igwl1d --itemid 310d5ffd-e9a2-4451-af87-ea054dce0f78

--permanent Option

By default when using the delete command for an item it will simply be moved to the trash (soft deleted). In order to permanently delete that item you must also pass the -p, --permanent option. When calling the delete command for an item already in the trash the command will be ignored/return an error.

bw delete item 7063feab-4b10-472e-b64c-785e2b870b92 --permanent

Restore

The restore command allows you to restore a previously deleted object from your trash.

bw restore (item) <id> [options]

bw restore item 7063feab-4b10-472e-b64c-785e2b870b92

Share

The share command allows you to transfer an item from your personal vault to an organization’s vault for sharing. Upon success, the updated item will be returned.

bw share <id> <organizationId> [encodedJson]

encodedJson contains a Base 64 encoded JSON array of collection ids for the organization being shared to. At least one collection ID must be provided.

bw share 4af958ce-96a7-45d9-beed-1e70fabaa27a 6d82949b-b44d-468a-adae-3f3bacb0ea32 \
    WyI5NzQwNTNkMC0zYjMzLTRiOTgtODg2ZS1mZWNmNWM4ZGJhOTYiXQ==
echo 'WyI5NzQwNTNkMC0zYjMzLTRiOTgtODg2ZS1mZWNmNWM4ZGJhOTYiXQ==' | \
    bw share 4af958ce-96a7-45d9-beed-1e70fabaa27a 6d82949b-b44d-468a-adae-3f3bacb0ea32
echo '["974053d0-3b33-4b98-886e-fecf5c8dba96"]' | bw encode | \
    bw share 4af958ce-96a7-45d9-beed-1e70fabaa27a 6d82949b-b44d-468a-adae-3f3bacb0ea32

Other Useful Commands

The CLI comes with several other commands that you may find useful.

Confirm

The confirm command allows you to confirm invited members of your organization that have already accepted their invitation.

bw confirm org-member <id> --organizationid <orgId>

Import

The import command allows you to import data from a previous Bitwarden export or another supported password management application.

bw import [<format> <input>] [--formats] 

bw import --formats
bw import bitwardencsv ./file.csv

Export

The export command allows you to export your unencrypted vault data to a CSV or JSON formatted file on disk.

bw export [password] [--output <filePath>] [--format <format>] [--organizationid <orgId>]

bw export
bw export --format csv
bw export myPassword321 --output ./backups/
bw export myPassword321 --output ./my_backup.json --format json
bw export myPassword321 --organizationid 7063feab-4b10-472e-b64c-785e2b870b92

Generate

The generate command allows you to generate strong passwords and passphrases.

bw generate [--lowercase --uppercase --number --special --length --passphrase --separator --words]

bw generate
bw generate -u -l --length 18
bw generate -ulns --length 25
bw generate -p --words 5 --separator _

Encode

The encode command Base 64 encodes stdin. This command is helpful when performing create and edit operations.

<jsonString> | bw encode

echo '{"name":"My Folder"}' | bw encode
bw get template folder | jq '.name = "My Folder"' | bw encode | bw create folder

Config

The config command allow you to specify settings for the CLI to use.

bw config <setting> [value]

For example, if you are using a self hosted Bitwarden server you will need to change the endpoint that the CLI communicates with.

bw config server https://bitwarden.example.com

You can read the value of a configured setting by not specifying a value.

bw config server

Update

The update command allows you to check if your CLI is up to date. The CLI will not automatically update. You must download new versions of the CLI manually.

bw update

A URL to download a new version of the CLI executable will be returned to you.

Version

The --version option allows you to check which version the CLI you are currently using.

bw --version

Working with JSON

Commands in the CLI will either return a JSON string or a simple string such as a URL, GUID, or message. When you need to parse or manipulate JSON input/output with the CLI we recommend using the jq command-line tool.

# Get a login item's password
bw get item google | jq '.login.password'

# Create a new folder from a template
bw get template folder | jq '.name = "My Folder"' | bw encode | bw create folder

# Update an existing folder's name
bw get folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782 | jq '.name = "Updated Folder"' | \
    bw encode | bw edit folder dadc91e0-dcda-4bc2-8cd6-52100027c782

Self-signed Certificates

If your self-hosted Bitwarden server exposes as self-signed TLS certificate, specify the Node.js environment variable NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS:

Bash

export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS="absolute/path/to/your/certificates.pem"

PowerShell

$env:NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS="absolute/path/to/your/certificates.pem"

Shell Completion

Bitwarden CLI comes with support for shell completion. It can generate shell completion scripts that you can use to enable completion for bw in your shell.

ZSH

You can enable bw completion for ZSH using various methods. A few of them are mentioned below:

vanilla (.zshrc):

Add the following line in your .zshrc file:

eval "$(bw completion --shell zsh); compdef _bw bw;"

vanilla (vendor-completions):

Run the following command:

bw completion --shell zsh | sudo tee /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_bw

zinit:

Run the following commands:

bw completion --shell zsh > ~/.local/share/zsh/completions/_bw
zinit creinstall ~/.local/share/zsh/completions

Source Code

As with everything here at Bitwarden, the CLI is fully open source and hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/bitwarden/cli.

Appendix

Templates

You can use the get command to retrieve templates for various types of request objects and sub-objects. Templates are useful when needing to get the “base” JSON object to work with while using the create command. A template’s JSON properties are sometimes populated with example data that you should change.

• item
• item.field
• item.login
• item.login.uri
• item.card
• item.identity
• item.securenote
• folder
• collection
• item-collections
• org-collection

bw get template item

Some templates are meant to be used as sub-objects to another template’s properties. For example, the item.login template is to be used with the item template’s login property.

Enums

Two Step Login Methods

Name	Value
Authenticator	0
Email	1
Yubikey	3

Item Types

Name	Value
Login	1
Secure Note	2
Card	3
Identity	4

Login URI Match Types

Name	Value
Domain	0
Host	1
Starts With	2
Exact	3
Regular Expression	4
Never	5

Field Types

Name	Value
Text	0
Hidden	1
Boolean	2

Secure Note Types

Name	Value
Generic	0

Organization User Types

Name	Value
Owner	0
Admin	1
User	2
Manager	3

Organization User Status Types

Name	Value
Invited	0
Accepted	1
Confirmed	2