How to set up and use VaultWarden on local machine, and access it from 'anywhere'

[Jarnhand]

Hi

Been doing PC stuff since the 90s, but selfhosting is on the low side. Also rather new to Linux, but I have worked with Windows server management/admin.

How easy is it to install and setup VaultWarden on local Win11 or Linux machine or Proxmox/Unraid, while also possible to access the Vault from anywhere outside my LAN? Which clients are used to access it, own Vault client or BitWarden (Androind and browser)? Which browser addons? How do I set up outside access, TailScale?

Any help would be super!

[stefan0xC]

Sorry, but I won't help you if you are not even willing to specify what your specific problems are or are seemingly unwilling to read even the first sentence of this projects README.

If you want us to google an tutorial for you, I will simply point out that you can do that yourself. Otherwise I will kindly point you to our wiki (even if it might not answer all your questions...)

[Jarnhand]

Hi and thanks.

Due to the very limited time I have to spend testing things out, I often 'ask stupid questions' before I start trying things out, due to I do not want to start something that is either a bad idea or need a lot of tweaking/testing to make it work. Then I just need to find other solutions.

Ok, so I can use all the BitWarden apps for VaultWarden.

Still would like to know if Tailscale is a good option to solve the safe access from outside. I can also see there are special VaultWarden + TailScale scripts around, but is it that hard to setup, that a novice VaultWarden/Tailscale/Docker user really need a script to solve the setup?

[stefan0xC]

No problem.

Still would like to know if Tailscale is a good option to solve the safe access from outside

Yep. I mean that's what it's for, isn't it?

is it that hard to setup, that a novice VaultWarden/Tailscale/Docker user really need a script to solve the setup?

I don't know. Personally I dislike the use of such scripts because I want to understand what I am doing and I feel like such scripts often are not worth it, on the other side if they are written well they can be a good starting point to check what steps are needed. Whether they are needed for novices I can't tell but if you are unwilling to spend some time tinkering or reading the documentation of the tools you use it might be the only viable option for you.

[eclairevoyant]

Keep in mind you'll need to set up a reverse proxy (nginx, caddy, ...) and configure it to serve over https (there's a setting to enable in the tailscale console, then you can use tailscale cert to generate the cert/key pair, then use those in your reverse proxy config.)

Starting with 2025.11, bitwarden clients will only connect over https, not http.

But yes, what you want is possible, I did exactly this just yesterday. I did not use any scripts, simply used the raw nginx config and went from there.