SSH-agent in MacOS not working

trikki69 · March 12, 2025, 2:39pm

Managed to get the SSH agent working fine in Windows with my account following the Bitwarden guide, all went smoothly.

Using the same guide but the MacOS version (I’m unable to link the page)
I cannot get the agent to work in MacOS… I have the app store version installed and I have completed export SSH-AUTH-SOCK etc, I can see the socket (.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock) file that has been generated in the correct directory and I have “use SSH agent” in the app checked.

When I check communication and type “ssh-add -L” into my terminal I get “The agent has no identities”

I am not self hosting Bitwarden.

Any help greatly appreciated!

trikki69 · March 12, 2025, 4:17pm

Slightly updated output after verifying that SSH_AUTH_SOCK env variable was pointing at the correct file:

❯ echo $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
/Users/************/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop/Data/.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock
❯ ssh-add -L
error fetching identities: communication with agent failed

davad · March 17, 2025, 9:18pm

Looks like there’s a fix that should be in the next release.

github.com/bitwarden/clients

SSH-Agent not working on App Store version of Bitwarden

opened 12:43AM - 27 Jan 25 UTC

closed 01:47PM - 25 Feb 25 UTC

SerialDestructor

bug desktop

### Steps To Reproduce 1. Install Bitwarden from the (macOS) App Store 2. Sign …in (in my case, a self-hosted instance) 3. Enable the SSH-Agent. 4. Restart ### Expected Result The ${USER_HOME}/.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock is created and available for use. ### Actual Result [SSH Agent Native Module] BITWARDEN_SSH_AUTH_SOCK not set, using default path [SSH Agent Native Module] Starting SSH Agent server on "/Users/{USER}/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop/Data/.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock" After manually pointing to the above socket, ssh-add -L results in: `error fetching identities: communication with agent failed` Repeating the command, it simply hangs without any output. Using the build from Github (non-App Store version), the agent is working correctly (but I lose the ability to use the browser extension integration). ### Screenshots or Videos _No response_ ### Additional Context I don't know the nitty-gritty about MacOS app development, but I suspect Gatekeeper treats filesystem access differently between App Store apps and manual installed apps. I tried granting Bitwarden full disk access, but that didn't help either. ### Operating System macOS ### Operating System Version Sonoma 14.7.1 ### Installation method Mac App Store ### Build Version 2025.1.3 (36834) ### Issue Tracking Info - [x] I understand that work is tracked outside of GitHub. A PR will be linked to this issue should one be opened to address it, but Bitwarden doesn't use fields like "assigned", "milestone", or "project" to track progress.

davad · March 17, 2025, 9:18pm

I’m seeing a similar issue.

I tried a couple different things to see how it behaved.

## With Bitwarden closed
❯ ssh-add -L
Error connecting to agent: Connection refused

## Open Bitwarden, but didn't unlock the vault
❯ ssh-add -L
error fetching identities: communication with agent failed

## Unlocked vault
❯ ssh-add -L

# terminal hangs like it's waiting for something

mrp · March 17, 2025, 9:19pm

For me “ssh-add -L” just hangs.

Mac App Store: Version 2025.2.1 (38769)

Zaljir · April 3, 2025, 10:54am

Same problem here. 2025.2.1 App Store version. Connections to the socket just hang.

nezorflame · April 3, 2025, 11:32am

There haven’t been a new version yet, so this is expected.
According to the Github issue:

Hi! The fix for this issue is merged to the development (main) branch, but not included in a release yet. I don’t have an exact release date at the moment, but I’m guessing it will be either 2025.3.1 or 2025.4.0.

tobiasfichtner · June 16, 2025, 7:22pm

its working too, with

export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=~/Library/Containers/com.bitwarden.desktop/Data/.bitwarden-ssh-agent.sock

u did not need to disable the local ssh-agent
thanks for your solution.

regards
tobias