Skip to main content
Now that you’ve installed HashiCorp Vault on your machine, you can start Vault in Dev Server mode. This mode launches Vault fully initialized, unsealed, and authenticated as the root user—without requiring any configuration files. Dev Server runs entirely in memory, with no TLS encryption, making it ideal for quick experimentation and development but not for production.
Vault Dev Server skips all security controls.
  • Data is lost when the process stops.
  • All traffic is unencrypted.
    Never use Dev Server in a production or sensitive environment.

​
Dev Server Features

The image is a slide titled "Running Vault Dev Server," listing features and warnings about using the Vault Dev Server mode, emphasizing not to use it in production.

​
When to Use Dev Server

Vault Dev Server is perfect for:
  • Proof-of-concepts (POCs) for secret management
  • Testing new Vault features or upgrades
  • Developing CI/CD integrations (e.g., with Jenkins)
  • Exploring unfamiliar secrets engines
The image is a slide titled "Where Would I Use Dev Server?" listing four uses: Proof of Concepts, New Development Integrations, Testing New Features of Vault, and Experimenting with Features. It includes a graphic of a triangle labeled "Dev Server Mode" and a cartoon character.
Never run Dev Server mode in a production environment.

​
Launching the Dev Server

Assuming the vault binary is on your PATH, open a terminal (or PowerShell on Windows) and execute:
You should see output like the following:
Before running additional commands, point your shell to the Dev Server:

​
Verify Vault Status

Confirm that Vault is unsealed and running:
Expected output:
You’re now connected to your Dev Server and ready to start issuing Vault commands.

​
Next Steps

  1. Authenticate
    Use the root token from the startup log:
  2. Mount & Test Secrets Engines
    For example, enable a new KV engine at kv-data/:
  3. Cleanup
    When you’re done, terminate the Vault process. All in-memory data will be discarded.

Watch Video