bwx

A lightweight python wrapper for the Bitwarden CLI.

Features

• Session management: Unlock your Bitwarden vault once and cache the session token securely.
• cp/copy subcommand: Copy a password to the clipboard.
• Auto‑clear: Automatically clears the clipboard after a configurable timeout.
• YAML config: Easy configuration using a YAML file.

Requirements

• UNIX
• Python 3+ with pyyaml
• Bitwarden CLI bw
• Clipboard management like xsel or wl-clipboard

Installation

1. Get the script from the repository and install somewhere in your PATH

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/msladek/bwx/refs/heads/main/bwx.py
   chmod +x bwx
   mv bwx.py ~/bin/bwx

2. Create a config fitting your needs, see Configuration section below:

   edit ~/.config/bwx.yml

Usage

bwx <command>

See Bitwarden CLI documentation for available commands.

Copy Password to Clipboard

bwx cp <item>

Aliases

Alias	Command
bwx pw <item>	bw get password <item>

Configuration

Option	Default	Description
debug	False	Toggle debug logging
transient_dir	/run/user/<uid>	Directory for session cache
bw_cmd	"bw"	Bitwarden CLI command
clipboard_copy_cmd	[] (disabled)	Clipboard copy command
clipboard_clear_cmd	[] (disabled)	Clipboard clear command
clipboard_clear_timeout	30	Seconds before auto-clear

You can override the default config by creating a YAML file. The script will look for config files in:

• <script_dir>/bwx.yml / .yaml
• ~/.config/bwx.yml / .yaml
• /etc/bwx.yml / .yaml

Example Config

debug: false
transient_dir: "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" # ramdisk strongly recommended

bw_cmd: "bw" # in PATH or FQN

clipboard_copy_cmd: # disabled if empty
  - "xsel"
  - "--input"
  - "--clipboard"
clipboard_clear_cmd: # disabled if empty
  - "xsel"
  - "--clear"
  - "--clipboard"
clipboard_clear_timeout: 30 # seconds