Trezor Bridge — The Secure Gateway to Your Hardware Wallet®

A concise presentation-style overview of what Trezor Bridge is, how it works, security considerations, migration guidance, and official resources.

1. Executive summary

Purpose

Trezor Bridge acts as a local communication layer between your Trezor hardware wallet and desktop/browser applications. It runs on the user’s machine and facilitates encrypted, direct communication so signing and management tasks occur with the private keys never leaving the device.

Why it matters

By isolating device communication to a local process, Bridge simplifies browser compatibility and removes the need for older browser extensions while preserving the hardware wallet's strong security model.

2. How Trezor Bridge works

Local server architecture

Trezor Bridge runs as a small local HTTP-like server (or daemon) on the user’s computer. Desktop apps and web pages (when allowed) communicate with that local server which then relays commands to the Trezor device over USB. This approach avoids exposing device interfaces over the network and keeps traffic local to the machine.

Compatibility and alternatives

Newer Trezor devices and modern browsers support WebUSB/WebHID which reduce the need for an external bridge; however, some setups still use Bridge or the lightweight trezord-go daemon to maintain compatibility with older environments or specific workflows.

3. Security considerations

Threat model

Bridge itself is a facilitator — the private keys remain inside the Trezor device. Security depends on using official releases, verifying binaries, and ensuring the host OS is secure. Running software from the official Trezor distribution and keeping everything updated are basic but essential practices.

Best practices

4. Migration & lifecycle

Deprecation note

Trezor has previously announced plans to deprecate the standalone Bridge in favor of integrated approaches (Trezor Suite, WebUSB/WebHID and trezord-go) — follow the official guidance for uninstall and migration steps to avoid compatibility problems.

How to transition

Users should migrate to the latest Trezor Suite desktop/web app or use platform-specific tooling advised by Trezor. When uninstalling Bridge, follow OS-specific instructions (macOS, Windows, Linux) provided on the official support pages to ensure a clean transition.

5. Troubleshooting checklist

Quick fixes

  1. Confirm Bridge/trezord is running and the device is unlocked and displaying the expected confirmation screen.
  2. Try a different USB cable or direct USB port (avoid hubs when diagnosing).
  3. Reinstall from official sources and verify the binary or follow the Suite download verification steps.
  4. Check firewall/antivirus rules that could block local connections.

When to ask support

If a problem persists, consult official documentation or open a support ticket. Never share your seed, recovery phrase, or PIN with support staff — legitimate support will never ask for those.