Using Bitwarden as an SSH agent

Besides being the coolest password manager out there, the desktop Bitwarden app also now includes an SSH agent.

This is super useful to me as I switch between multiple devices all the time over the day, and need to keep everything in sync.

Personally, I installed the desktop app through the Flatpak, but a native install will of course work as well. Just note some paths might be different.

Once it”s installed and setup, just head into the settings and enable the SSH agent. I set the “Ask for authorization” setting to “Remember until vault is locked” as I connect to a ton of servers in one session and don”t want to be annoyed by the prompt every time.

Then, on the Bitwarden side, the last thing is to create a new SSH key. Just use the “+” on the bottom and select “SSH”. Once this is done, copy the public key to GitHub, a server, or whatever you want.

Now, my recommended config on Linux is to put the following into your ~/.profile file:

export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/home/<your user>/.var/app/com.bitwarden.desktop/data/.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock"

This will basically tell any program to use the Bitwarden SSH agent. Remember to log out and in again after adding the line.

Now, if you try:

ssh -T git@github.com

Bitwarden should prompt you to allow the use of the key, and if accepted, GitHub will return:

Hi jae1911! You"ve successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

Yup, that easy overall.

Works great even on my self-hosted Vaultwarden server.