Directory Connector CLI

The Directory Connector CLI is suited toward work in environments where a desktop GUI is unavailable, or if you want to programmatically script directory sync operations using tools provided by the operating system (cron job, scheduled task, and more). The Directory Connector CLI can be used cross-platform on Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions.

To get started using the Bitwarden Directory Connector CLI:

1. Download the CLI from one of the following links:

   •  Windows CLI

   •  macOS CLI

   •  Linux CLI

2. Extract the .zip and move the contents (bwdc and keytar.node) to /usr/local/bin or another directory in your $PATH. Please note, keytar.node must be in the same directory as the primary bwdc executable.

   Linux only: If not already installed, install libsecret with your package manager of choice:

   
   apt-get install libsecret-1-0
   brew install libsecret

   Windows only: Windows users can add bwdc.exe to the current user's PATH.

3. Verify that the bwdc command works in your terminal by running the following:

   
   bwdc --help

4. Connect Directory Connector to your directory using the bwdc config <setting> <value> command (see here).

5. Configure sync options by editing your data.json file (to learn more, see Directory Connector File Storage). Use the bwdc data-file command to obtain the absolute path of your data.json file.

   Available sync options depend on the directory type in use, so refer to one of the following articles for a list of options available to you:

   • Sync with Active Directory or LDAP

   • Sync with Azure Active Directory

   • Sync with G Suite (Google)

   • Sync with Okta

   • Sync with OneLogin

6. Run the bwdc test command to check whether your configuration would sync the expected results.

7. Once your directory and sync options are properly configured, and bwdc test yields the expected results, run the bwdc sync command to start a live sync operation.

Use the login command to log in to Directory Connector with your organization API key. If you don't have the API key, reach out to an organization owner. There are a few ways to use the login command:

• By itself:

  
  bwdc login

  Passing bwdc login by itself will prompt you to subsequently enter client_id and client_secret.

• With parameters:

  
  bwdc login organization.b5351047-89b6-820f-ad21016b6222 yUMB4trbqV1bavhEHGqbuGpz4AlHm9

• With saved environment variables:

  
  BW_CLIENTID="organization.b5351047-89b6-820f-ad21016b6222"
  BW_CLIENTSECRET="yUMB4trbqV1bavhEHGqbuGpz4AlHm9"
  
  bwdc login

  Saving the environment variables BW_CLIENTID and BW_CLIENTSECRET allows you to login to Directory Connector using only bwdc login, which will check for those variables and use them if present.

  If these environment variables aren't present, you will be prompted to enter your client_id and client_secret.

Use the logout command to logout of the Directory Connector CLI.


bwdc logout

The Bitwarden Directory Connector CLI is self-documented with --help content and examples for every command. List all available commands using the global --help option:


bwdc --help

Use the --help option on any specific command to learn more about that command:


bwdc test --help
bwdc config --help

The test command queries your directory and prints a JSON formatted array of groups and users that would be synced to your Bitwarden organization whenever you run a real sync operation.


bwdc test

Use the --last option to test only the changes since the last successful sync.


bwdc test --last

The sync command runs a live sync operation and pushes data to your Bitwarden organization.


bwdc sync

Synced users and groups will be immediately available in your Bitwarden organization. Newly added users will receive an email invite to your organization.

The last-sync command returns an ISO 8601 timestamp for the last sync operation that was performed for users or groups. You must specify either users or groups as an <object> to run the command against:


bwdc last-sync <object>

Returns an empty response if no sync has been performed for the given object.

The config command allow you to specify your directory settings:


bwdc config <setting> <value>

Available options are:

directory-type values

The data-file command returns an absolute path to the data.json configuration file used by the Directory Connector CLI:


bwdc data-file

Some configuration settings can be modified for the Directory Connector CLI by editing the data.json configuration file directly in your favorite text editor, however ldap.password, azure.key, gsuite.key, okta.token, and onelogin.secret can only be modified from the CLI using config#config, or from the desktop app.

The clear-cache command allows you to clear cached data that the application stores while performing sync operations. For more information, see Clear Sync Cache.


bwdc clear-cache

The update command allows you to check if your Directory Connector CLI is up-to-date:


bwdc update

If a newer version is found, the command will return a URL to download a new version. The Directory Connector CLI will not automatically update. You will need to use this URL download the new version manually.

If you receive an error message referring to the libsecret shared object Error: libsecret-1.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory, you may need to install libsecret which is required to store things securely on the host.

If you receive an error message referring to the dbus when using bwdc config, for example Failed to execute child process "dbus-launch" (No such file or directory) or Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11, assign the following environment variable to allow plaintext storage of secrets in data.json:


export BITWARDENCLI_CONNECTOR_PLAINTEXT_SECRETS=true

If you receive an error message that states unable to get local issuer certificate, set the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS variable to your root.pem, for example:

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

If you're using the desktop app, this may also manifest as the following error: Warning: Setting the NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED environment variable to '0' makes TLS connections and HTTPS requests insecure by disabling certificate verification.