[zaggynl]

How does the Bitwarden client handle loss of connection to the Bitwarden or Vaultwarden server?

Last I checked the local cache is gone after so many days, leaving you without your credentials.

A combination of local password manager and a file sync service of your preference seems a good option as well.

[jerf]

If you care enough to run a personal Vaultwarden, you should care enough to back it up too. If you don't want to back it up, you probably shouldn't run it locally and just use the service.

I'm somewhat less crazy-eyes about the importance of backing things up properly than some people on HN can get. A lot of personal content I can honestly just accept the risk of losing it. However, if there is an exception to that, your password vault is it. It is possible to get yourself into a situation where you are completely locked out of things and the more systems go to harder authentication that you can't even store in your head like TOTP and hardware tokens the easier it gets to be in a world where if you lose your vault you can't recover because you can't even log in to the email account you'd use to recover.

[alyandon]

  If you care enough to run a personal Vaultwarden, you should care enough to back it up too. If you don't want to back it up, you probably shouldn't run it locally and just use the service.

Exactly right. I have a script that briefly stops my Vaultwarden container and creates a .tgz of the contents of the data volume before restarting the container. The .tgz file gets copied off-site so I always have an accessible backup should my main host disappear.

[giancarlostoro]

Fun story, I booted up a Windows 8 tablet I had not touched for years. I looked at Firefox, and noticed my long lost LastPass, which I lost the vault for... I logged in offline, and wouldn't you know it, I was able to see all my (mostly useless by now) passwords, going back 10+ years.