A concise, presentation-style explainer covering purpose, security model, lifecycle, migration, and developer notes.
Trezor Bridge historically acted as a small local communication daemon that created a secure, controlled channel between your web browser (or Trezor Suite) and a connected Trezor hardware wallet. It prevents direct exposure of USB/HID transport details to web pages while allowing the browser to send wallet commands safely — signing requests, device enumeration, and firmware queries — without exposing private keys.
Browsers' security models make it difficult for web apps to talk to hardware directly in a way that is both usable and safe. Bridge acted as that trusted intermediary: local, minimal, and focused strictly on translating browser requests to device-level transport operations.
Core role: mediates transport (USB/HID) → command/response → browser UI. The private key operations always remain on the Trezor device.
Trezor Bridge itself is intentionally small and narrowly scoped; it does not hold keys or secrets and acts only as a message forwarder between a local client and the device. This minimizes what an attacker can gain from compromising the bridge process. The sensitive cryptographic operations — signing and private key storage — happen inside the hardware wallet's secure element / MCU, preserving isolation.
Important: Trezor has deprecated the standalone Trezor Bridge in favor of smoother integration with Trezor Suite and updated transports. If you still have Bridge installed, check Trezor's official guidance to remove or upgrade it to avoid conflicts with newer releases.
See Trezor's official guide on deprecation and recommended actions in the Guides and Support sections.
The repository that implements the bridge/daemon logic is available as an open-source project (trezord / trezord-go). Developers who need to understand or audit the communication layer can review code, issue trackers, and build instructions on GitHub.
When building web integrations, prefer the officially supported transport APIs and adhere to the least-privilege model: ask for the minimal set of device operations needed for a task and always validate unsigned transaction previews on the device display.
Bridge was meant to be a "set-and-forget" helper: install once, then use wallets and Trezor Suite without repeatedly configuring transports. The deprecation aims to simplify the UX further by centralizing functionality inside Trezor Suite and new, better supported transports.
Historically there were two ways to talk to a Trezor device from the host: HID transport and Bridge. Newer architectures migrate away from a separate install by embedding necessary transports in official apps or using modern browser APIs where possible.
Fewer moving parts means fewer failures, fewer security warnings, and easier support for Trezor users across platforms (desktop and mobile).
Use these official links for downloads, guides, troubleshooting, and developer source code.
Tip: save these to a “Trezor resources” bookmark folder; always prefer trezor.io and github.com/trezor domains for authentic downloads and code.
Trezor Bridge played an important transitional role as a local, minimal communication layer enabling browser and desktop interfaces to use secure hardware wallets without exposing keys. With official deprecation, the priority is a simpler, safer user experience via Trezor Suite and updated transports — reducing friction and attack surface at the same time.
Read the official guides linked above, update to the latest tools, and when developing apps, follow least-privilege transport patterns and ask users to verify all transactions on-device.
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