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Password Manager (Vaultwarden)

Appcircle runs a self-hosted Vaultwarden instance — an open-source, Bitwarden-compatible password server — at https://pass.appcircle.io. You interact with it using the official Bitwarden client (browser extension or desktop app).

All work-related credentials must be stored here — never in Slack, email, or any other messaging channel.

Installation

Download and install the Bitwarden client for your platform from the official download page.

Bitwarden download page

Available clients:

  • Browser extension — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, and others
  • Desktop application — macOS, Windows, Linux

Install at least the browser extension; a desktop application is optional but recommended.

First-time Setup

1. Switch to self-hosted

Before entering any credentials, change the server to Appcircle's self-hosted instance.

On the login screen click Accessing: bitwarden.com and select self-hosted.

Selecting self-hosted from the Accessing dropdown

Enter the server URL and click Save:

https://pass.appcircle.io

Self-hosted environment dialog with the server URL

2. Sign in with SSO

Click Use single sign-on and authenticate with your @appcircle.io account.

Login screen showing the Use single sign-on option

3. Master password

On first login you will be asked to set a master password. This password is known only to you and cannot be recovered — store it somewhere safe outside Bitwarden (e.g., write it down and keep it secure).

Organization Invite

After logging in you will need an invite to the Appcircle organization. Invites are not sent automatically — contact Osman Kibar via Slack to request one.

Vault Structure

Once you join the organization you will see two vaults:

Vault Purpose
My Vault Personal work-related credentials (accounts that belong to you individually)
Appcircle Shared company credentials and service accounts

Collections

Within the Appcircle organization, credentials are organized into team-based collections. Each team has two collections:

Collection Access Examples
<Team> All team members Internal tools, non-critical service accounts
<Team>/Privileged Team lead only Credentials that affect multiple resources (Google Cloud, Proxmox, etc.)

Example for the Platform team:

  • Platform — credentials accessible to all platform team members
  • Platform/Privileged — high-impact credentials reviewed by the team lead

Sharing Secrets Securely

Never share passwords, certificates, SSH keys, or private keys over Slack, email, or Microsoft Teams.

Use Bitwarden Send instead:

  1. Open the Send tab in Bitwarden and click New text (or New file for binary content).
  2. Paste the secret or attach the file.
  3. Set a short Deletion date (e.g., 1 hour).
  4. Under Additional options, set Maximum access count to 1.

Bitwarden Send options showing deletion date and maximum access count set to 1

Sharing the generated link via Slack or email is fine — the secret itself never travels over those channels.

Warning

If you suspect the link was opened by someone other than the intended recipient before they could use it, treat the secret as compromised and rotate it immediately.