Trezor Bridge — The Secure Gateway
Trezor Bridge was designed as a lightweight, secure bridge between web browsers (and some apps) and Trezor hardware devices, enabling USB communication and user interactions while minimizing exposure. Below is a concise guide: what Bridge did, why it mattered, and how to transition to modern alternatives.
Open Trezor SuiteWhat Bridge provided
- USB-to-browser connectivity: Enabled browsers to securely communicate with Trezor devices over USB without exposing low-level drivers to web code.
- User confirmation model: Required physical confirmation on the device for sensitive actions (e.g., signing transactions).
- Cross-platform helper: Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux to smooth compatibility across environments.
Security design highlights
Bridge was built with a conservative threat model: it limited the browser’s access surface, delegated cryptographic operations to the hardware device, and required explicit user confirmation for every action that could move funds or reveal sensitive information.
- Minimal privileged code — Bridge ran only what was necessary for USB forwarding.
- Device-first confirmations — signatures required a button press on the Trezor device.
- Transparent distribution — official binaries and checksums were published on trezor.io.
Status & migration note
As Trezor's ecosystem matured, many connection flows moved to Trezor Suite (desktop/app) and modern browser APIs. If you see references to Bridge in older documentation or third‑party services, prefer current, supported methods (Trezor Suite or officially supported wallet integrations).
How to uninstall Bridge (if present)
If you have an older Bridge installation and want to remove it, use the standard OS uninstall flow or the commands below.
Windows (PowerShell): Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "Trezor Bridge*"} | ForEach-Object { $_.Uninstall() }
macOS (if installed as app): rm -rf /Applications/Trezor\ Bridge.app
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): sudo apt remove trezor-bridgeIf you rely on a legacy third-party wallet that still explicitly requires Bridge, check that wallet’s documentation before removing it.
Best practices
- Download software only from trezor.io and verify checksums if provided.
- Prefer official Trezor Suite for device management and firmware updates.
- Confirm every action on the hardware device — never approve transactions you didn’t initiate.