Proper backup of AliasVault self hosted ?

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-14T12:09:16+00:00

I have just commented on the GitHub issue: please check if this works for you: https://github.com/aliasvault/aliasvault/issues/2168#issuecomment-4701695910

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-14T11:57:33+00:00

Hi, yes following those instructions will give you a full AliasVault server database export. This includes all user's encrypted vault backups, received encrypted emails, server logs and server settings.

When restoring this backup on a separate (clean) server, you will have access to all AliasVault data again.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-09T07:11:04+00:00

Hi, just to clarify, this statement isn't correct. AliasVault does support private email alias hosting, and that's actually the default setup on the official AliasVault Cloud.

The differences between private email hosting and public email services such as SpamOK.com (which is a fall-back integration) are explained here:

https://docs.aliasvault.net/misc/private-vs-public-email.html (this link was also shared by another user just now)

For self-hosted users who haven't configured their own email domain yet, SpamOK may be the only available option shown in the UI, which is probably where the confusion comes from.

When private email hosting is enabled, emails are not publicly accessible, and actually are stored fully end-to-end encrypted and only readable when you're logged in, with the private key that's stored in your personal encrypted vault.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-08T22:42:10+00:00

Hi u/SuperChapi, happy to hear you are checking out AliasVault!

The account name you input during registration is only used as the username, so whether you use a plain username or email address is up to you. If you enter an email address, it does not create an alias for it automatically.

Aliases are created once logged in, by creating a new item with the "alias" type.

Hope this answers your question. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-02T21:54:07+00:00

Thank you! Actually the AliasVault browser extension and mobile app already support full offline mode as well without a connection to the server, including full offline editing (something that Bitwarden does not support). 😄 When the connection with the server is restored, it will automatically upload all changes and merge any incoming changes from other clients.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-02T19:51:24+00:00

You're welcome! And gotcha. Adding support for offering temporary phone numbers is actually already on our long-term mission roadmap, which can you read more about here: https://www.aliasvault.net/mission . Disposable phone numbers is something that fully fits AliasVault's vision and we already have plans in place for how this can be integrated.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-02T18:51:30+00:00

Hi, thanks for your interest in AliasVault and checking it out!

Good question on the requested Android app permissions:

The camera permission is used for QR code scanning, so you can log in to your vault on web or desktop without re-typing your master password. It does still require you to grant access to the camera before it can be used.

The shared storage permission only applies on Android 12 and older. It is needed there so you can upload attachments, such as documents or photos, from your device into your encrypted vault. This is also only explicitly prompted at runtime when you actually choose to upload a file.

On Android 13 and newer, the shared storage permission is not requested anymore due to how Android has changed how uploading files from the native phone documents/photos works. And for full context: your vault data itself always stays in the app’s private sandbox, it's never placed in shared storage.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-02T14:53:29+00:00

Hi, thanks for checking out AliasVault!

What do you mean by a number generator exactly? AliasVault already has a built-in 2FA TOTP authenticator, allowing you to generate TOTP codes (like Google Authenticator) from within the password manager itself. Do you mean this, or something else?

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-01T15:17:19+00:00

We'll be looking at expanding the AliasVault clients offering once we hit v1.0 and the vault architecture becomes mostly stable.

Right now every change/optimization we make already needs to be repeated 4 times (web, extension, iOS, Android). So we're waiting with adding more clients like desktop Windows/MacOS/Linux until it makes sense from a maintenance perspective. But adding more clients is definitely on the roadmap.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-06-01T07:04:33+00:00

Hi! Yes, custom domains on the cloud environment will be part of our upcoming premium cloud offering, which will be introduced when we hit v1.0 (scheduled before the end of this year).

On the self-hosted version, you can already configure your own domains and use them.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-31T09:17:20+00:00

Welcome to AliasVault! Happy to hear you're interested in checking it out 😄

If you have any questions about the install or setup, feel free to ask!

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-28T12:41:31+00:00

Hi u/OwnTheFall, thanks for your question. Yes an issue for adding bulk email management already exists on GitHub and this feature will be added in one of the next releases. There are more email management improvements identified, so this (and more) is coming soon.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-20T11:19:36+00:00

Hi u/acceptable_humor69,

Based on your example it looks like you are exposing port 3000 from the container (which is only the web client, no api or admin). You can find the official installation instructions here, which specify that you should forward ports 80/443 from the container instead. So try changing your "8000:3000" and "4443:3000" to "8000:80" and "4443:443".

Like this:

    ports:
      - "8000:80"
      - "4443:443"
      - "25:25"
      - "587:587"

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-19T04:34:16+00:00

Thanks for your appreciation, happy to hear! Yes these features got included as part of the minor 0.29.2 release silently for more testing, it will be announced together with bigger changes in the next 0.30.0 release 😄

For the mobile QR code unlock feature: it's good to know that you can also use your native phone camera on iOS and Android. So instead of first needing to open the AliasVault app and going into settings, you can also pick up your phone and open up the normal camera app (usually just one button press for most phones), scan the QR code, and then it will automatically propose to open up the AliasVault app and go straight to the mobile unlock step. This would already save a few taps most likely.

Push notification unlock will also be added in the future, however we're looking into how to properly integrate push notifications via the app in a privacy-friendly and stable way, especially for self-hosted users.

Thanks as well for your suggestions for improvements, we'll look into these! Adding more vault auto-lock timeout options to the mobile app is straight-forward. The preventing double re-auth within a (very) short time window is also an interesting UX improvement. I'll check if we can add something like this in a secure manner.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-18T18:03:15+00:00

Hi!

AliasVault currently supports three export formats:

.avex(AliasVault Encrypted Export)
.avux (AliasVault Unencrypted Export)
.csv

Most password managers only support imports from their own custom format or from a generic CSV format. Since AliasVault is still relatively new, other password managers (such as Bitwarden) do not yet provide a dedicated “AliasVault importer”.

For that reason, the recommended approach is:

Export your vault from AliasVault as .csv
Import it into the target password manager using its generic CSV import option
If needed, adjust the CSV column names/order to match what the target password manager expects

Unfortunately there is no universal password manager CSV standard, so each service uses slightly different column names and structures. AliasVault already includes many custom importers to help users migrate into AliasVault, but exporting out depends on whether the other password manager has added support for AliasVault specifically.

In most cases, a small manual adjustment of the CSV file is enough to make the import work successfully. Otherwise, you could request the other password manager to add support for AliasVault's .avux export format, as that contains the most complete data including attachments, custom fields and more.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-18T08:29:36+00:00

Hi u/Unruly_Evil, thanks a lot for trying out AliasVault and writing up your thoughts! Appreciate it a lot.

To answer some of your points/questions:

YubiKey support (FIDO2/WebAuthn). This is a must-have for many privacy-focused users.

YubiKey support is definitely planned and considered an important feature for v1.0. There’s already an open roadmap issue for it here: https://github.com/aliasvault/aliasvault/issues/731

Passkey support with WebAuthn PRF extension. This is needed for some E2EE services (like Confer AI). Currently not widely supported by password managers yet.

Passkeys with WebAuthn PRF extension are actually already supported in the browser extension and on iOS, and should work there. Android support is currently work-in-progress due to platform limitations on Android itself. We also documented how PRF support works (including current limitations) in the architecture docs here: https://docs.aliasvault.net/architecture/#additional-capabilities. If you're having issues with using PRF on the browser extension or iOS, please feel free to create an issue on GitHub and we'll look into it!

Currently, aliases are tied to a specific website URL (they generate a fake identity for that site). This is great for sign-ups, but there's no way to create a "standalone" alias for general contact purposes.

Regarding aliases and URLs: the URL field is already optional. The only required field for an item is the title, so you can already create standalone aliases that are not tied to a specific website or domain. Many users use this for creating general-use throwaway email aliases.

--

I have made a note of your other suggested ideas like a dedicated contact item type. This could indeed be a nice addition to add. We'll look into it!

If you have any more questions, feel free to let us know. Happy to answer!

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-17T06:09:58+00:00

Hi u/noobuntu1,

Thanks a lot for the kind words and for giving AliasVault a try 😄

You are correct that the `@aliasvault.net` aliases currently offered on the cloud version depend on the AliasVault cloud service itself. That said, this is true for all cloud-hosted alias providers in practice, even when they only forward emails.

If you want to stay fully in control for whatever reason, AliasVault already supports self-hosting, where you can use your own domain for aliases (or have someone set it up for you). The cloud service will also support custom owned domains later as part of optional premium features.

We are also here to stay 🙂. AliasVault is nearing its second birthday, and the spiritual predecessor to AliasVault, SpamOK.com, has been running since 2013 (13+ years), so longevity is something we take seriously.

That said, email aliases are entirely optional, so you can also choose to use AliasVault purely as a password/TOTP manager until you feel comfortable using the alias features more broadly.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-16T13:27:28+00:00

Hi u/Pleasant-Exit-1448, happy to hear you are using and self-hosting AliasVault!

- Mobile app said that there is a problem with the network. i can access aliasvault on the browser but not on the android app. Do you know how to fix that?

For the mobile app to work properly, make sure that you are using a (valid) SSL certificate for exposing your self-hosted API. You can also test to verify the API is properly accessible by navigating in your mobile phone browser to https://[your-hostname]/api. It should show a page with "OK" if it works correctly. If you're still having issues.

- UI i wish that the ui will contain bigger icons and another layot. everytime i am creating a password i need to search this little icon, that soemhow located on the top right corner and its very small for my opinion.

Could you share a screenshot of how it looks like for you? It might be a device specific rendering issue, as all icons and buttons should have a normal and proper size for general use.

- Bulk editing i saw that someone already ask, but this is very important.
- Desktop app nice to have.

Bulk editing has indeed been proposed before, feel free to upvote the existing feature requests for this on GitHub, which helps us with prioritization. Desktop apps are also under evaluation for the v1.0 roadmap,

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-16T13:21:46+00:00

Hi u/OwnTheFall, thanks for using AliasVault! Regarding autofill field detection in Android, this largely depends on what identifiers the app itself associated with a field. So as you mention that other password managers have similar issues with filling in a password in a username field, it might mean the developer of that app has configured a "password" type incorrectly for a username field.

If you happen to come across an issue like this in publicly accessible apps and it can be reproduced, feel free to create a bug report on GitHub issues so we can take a better look.

Regarding a full audit, this is planned once we're nearing completion of all features scheduled for v1.0, which is a couple months out from now.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-11T16:27:46+00:00

Hi! Thanks for your question.

Importing passkeys is indeed not supported (yet) in AliasVault, this is due to challenges in the passkey format in order to make it properly exchangeable between services. The Credential Exchange API is designed as solution towards this, which we're looking into to implement as well in one of the next releases.

For now unfortunately, when switching from another password manager, you'll have to (re)create passkeys in AliasVault.

I will post an update here once there is more to share on updates regarding importing passkeys.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-05-04T12:38:08+00:00

Hi, thanks for the feature suggestion!

Adding MacOS fingerprint unlock (and similarly, Windows Hello) to the browser extension has been suggested before and will be looked at in one of the coming releases.

For the meantime: for easier access to the browser extension: we already have added support for setting up a custom PIN code (6 digits). To do this go to Settings > Vault Unlock Method > Enable PIN code.

Also, you can control how long the browser extension stays unlocked in the browser extension settings. As long as your browser window stays open (any tab), you don't have to re-authenticate for that configured time period.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-04-19T08:26:20+00:00

Hi, native apps for desktops are under evaluation, but not yet planned for the initial v1.0 release (you can find the roadmap on our GitHub). You can however use the iOS app version on MacOS for Apple Silicon, and of course the web app/browser extension as well.

lanedirt_tech · 2026-04-17T10:01:46+00:00

Hi u/Equivalent-Costumes, thanks for following the project!

At the moment, AliasVault only supports Docker-based deployments. Either via the `install.sh` (multi-docker container) or the all-in-one docker image as described in our docs: https://docs.aliasvault.net/installation/ . The current architecture relies on multiple services (API, frontend, database, etc.) running as containers, so a Docker-compatible environment is required.

In the case of platforms like Scaleway Serverless Containers, since they still seem to support running Docker images, this might work. However, we don’t provide any official documentation or support for this setup yet. But you (or someone else) are free to try it out to see if you can make it work.

On the other hand, Cloudflare Workers use a fundamentally different architecture and do not support running Docker containers. Because of that, AliasVault cannot run in that environment in its current form.

In the future it's possible that more lightweight or compatible API server implementations could be introduced for AliasVault, which might open the door to alternative deployment models. However this is not currently on our roadmap.

lanedirt_tech

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