Directory Connector

The Bitwarden Directory Connector is a desktop application used to sync your Bitwarden enterprise organization to an existing directory of users and groups.

Repository Structure

The repository is organized as follows:

• libs/ — shared business logic (services, models, abstractions)
• src-gui/ — Angular + Electron desktop app
• src-cli/ — CLI tool (bwdc)
• native/ — Rust native module for secure credential storage

Requirements

• Node.js v25

• Rust toolchain — required to build the native credential storage module

• Windows users: To compile the native node modules used in the app you will need the Visual C++ toolset, available through the standard Visual Studio installer (recommended) or by installing windows-build-tools through npm. See more at Compiling native Addon modules.

Build Instructions

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/bitwarden/directory-connector.git

2. Install the dependencies:

   cd directory-connector
   npm ci

3. Build the native Rust module:

   npm run rebuild

   This compiles the dc-native Rust module used for secure credential storage.

4. Run the app:

   GUI

   npm run electron

   CLI

   npm run build:cli

   You can then run commands from the ./build-cli folder:

   cd ./build-cli
   
   node ./bwdc.js --help
   
   # Test sync
   node ./bwdc.js test
   
   # Real sync
   node bwdc.js sync

   note

   Use npm run build:cli (not build:cli:watch) when you need the native .node files to be copied into build-cli/. The watch variant skips the native file copy step.

Syncing from a directory service

To properly test Directory Connector, you'll need a directory to sync. We have instructions for setting up:

• an Open LDAP Docker image (recommended)

• JumpCloud

These are both LDAP directory services. If you need to test another type, you should be able to find a platform offering a free tier of that service.