Using the PostgreSQL Backend

To use the PostgreSQL backend, you can either use the official Docker image or build your own binary with PostgreSQL enabled.

To run the binary or container ensure the DATABASE_URL environment variable is set (i.e. DATABASE_URL='postgresql://<user>:<password>@postgresql/bitwarden')

Connection String Syntax:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://[[user]:[password]@]host[:port][/database]

An example docker run environment variable would be: -e 'DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgresadmin:strongpassword@postgres:5432/vaultwarden'.

If your password contains special characters, you will need to use percentage encoding.

!	#	$	%	&	'	(	)	*	+	,	/	:	;	=	?	@	[	]
%21	%23	%24	%25	%26	%27	%28	%29	%2A	%2B	%2C	%2F	%3A	%3B	%3D	%3F	%40	%5B	%5D

A complete list of codes can be found on Wikipedia page for percent encoding

Migrating from SQLite to PostgreSQL

An easy way of migrating from SQLite to PostgreSQL or to MySQL exists, but please, note that you are using this at your own risk and you are strongly advised to backup your installation and data!. This is unsupported and has not been robustly tested.

1. Create an new (empty) database for vaultwarden:

CREATE DATABASE vaultwarden;

2. Create a new database user and grant rights to database:

CREATE USER vaultwarden WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'yourpassword';
GRANT all privileges ON database vaultwarden TO vaultwarden;

3. Configure vaultwarden and start it, so diesel can run migrations and set up the schema properly. Do not do anything else.
4. Stop vaultwarden.
5. install pgloader
6. disable WAL of the SQLite database.
7. create the file bitwarden.load with the following content:

load database
     from sqlite:///where/you/keep/your/vaultwarden/db.sqlite3 
     into postgresql://yourpgsqluser:yourpgsqlpassword@yourpgsqlserver:yourpgsqlport/yourpgsqldatabase
     WITH data only, include no drop, reset sequences
     EXCLUDING TABLE NAMES LIKE '__diesel_schema_migrations'
     ALTER SCHEMA 'bitwarden' RENAME TO 'public'
;

8. run the command pgloader bitwarden.load and you might see some warnings, but the migration should complete successfully
9. Start vaultwarden again.