Set Up Bitwarden

Why You Need This Now

By the end of this curriculum you'll have accounts at: Privacy.com, Proton Mail, Vultr, Telegram, Anthropic, and possibly more. Each one needs a unique, strong password. If you reuse passwords or keep them in a text file, you're building on sand.

Bitwarden is:

• Free for personal use
• Open source (you can audit the code)
• Cross-platform (browser extension, mobile app, desktop app)
• Self-hostable if you want to go further later

What to Do

1. Go to bitwarden.com and create a free account
2. Use a strong master password — this is the one password you memorize. Make it long (4+ random words) rather than complex. For example, pick random words like correct-horse-battery-staple — length beats complexity
3. Install the browser extension for your main browser
4. Install the mobile app on your phone
5. Enable two-factor authentication on your Bitwarden account (Settings → Security → Two-step Login)

Set Up Mobile Autofill

Bitwarden's autofill on your phone requires enabling it in your device's system settings — it won't work until you do this.

• Android: Settings → Passwords & Accounts → Autofill service → select Bitwarden
• iOS: Settings → Passwords → AutoFill Passwords → enable Bitwarden

How to Use the Password Generator

This is the single most important feature for this curriculum. Every subsequent lesson involves creating accounts, and you'll want a unique password for each one.

1. In the browser extension, click the + New Item button (or the generator icon ↻)
2. Go to Generator and set the length to 20+ characters
3. Click Generate and then Copy
4. Paste it into the service's password field and save the entry in Bitwarden

For every new account in this curriculum:

1. Let Bitwarden generate the password (use 20+ characters)
2. Save the login in Bitwarden immediately
3. Never type or remember service passwords — that's Bitwarden's job

Test It

Before moving on, verify everything works end to end:

1. Save a login entry in Bitwarden (use your Privacy.com login from the previous lesson)
2. Close the browser entirely
3. Reopen it, navigate to the login page
4. Verify the Bitwarden extension autofills your credentials

Tips

• Create a folder called "OpenClaw" in Bitwarden to keep all curriculum-related logins organized
• Your master password is the only one you need to remember — write it down and store it somewhere physically safe if you need to
• If you already use 1Password, KeePassXC, or another password manager you trust, that's fine — the point is to use something

When You're Done

• Bitwarden account created
• Browser extension installed
• Mobile app installed
• Two-factor authentication enabled
• "OpenClaw" folder created
• Privacy.com login saved in Bitwarden