Vault GUI configuration

Vault features a user interface (web interface) for interacting with Vault. Easily create, read, update, and delete secrets, authenticate, unseal, and more with the Vault GUI.

Activating the Vault GUI

The Vault GUI is not activated by default. To activate the UI, set the ui configuration option in the Vault server configuration. Vault clients do not need to set this option, since they will not be serving the UI.

ui = true

listener "tcp" {
  # ...
}

For more information, please see the Vault configuration options.

Accessing the Vault GUI

The UI runs on the same port as the Vault listener. As such, you must configure at least one listener stanza in order to access the UI.

listener "tcp" {
  address = "10.0.1.35:8200"

  # If bound to localhost, the Vault GUI is only
  # accessible from the local machine!
  # address = "127.0.0.1:8200"
}

In this case, the UI is accessible at the following URL from any machine on the subnet (provided no network firewalls are in place):

https://10.0.1.35:8200/ui/

It is also accessible at any DNS entry that resolves to that IP address, such as the Consul service address (if using Consul):

https://vault.service.consul:8200/ui/

Note on TLS

When using TLS (recommended), the certificate must be valid for all DNS entries you will be accessing the Vault GUI on, and any IP addresses on the SAN. If you are running Vault with a self-signed certificate, any browsers that access the Vault GUI will need to have the root CA installed. Failure to do so may result in the browser displaying a warning that the site is "untrusted". It is highly recommended that client browsers accessing the Vault GUI install the proper CA root for validation to reduce the chance of a MITM attack.

CLI emulation in the Vault GUI

The Vault GUI includes an interactive Web REPL to interact with Vault's API much like the Vault CLI. For more on that, see the Web REPL documentation.