HashiCorp Vault — Install Vault

2 minute read

Vault is distributed as a single binary. This page covers every major installation method so you can get Vault running on any platform.

Install on macOS

# Add HashiCorp tap
brew tap hashicorp/tap

# Install Vault
brew install hashicorp/tap/vault

# Verify installation
vault version

Expected output:

Vault v1.15.4 (9b61934559ba31150860e618cf18e816cbddc630), built 2024-01-26T14:53:40Z

Binary Download

# Download the binary
curl -O https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/1.15.4/vault_1.15.4_darwin_amd64.zip

# For Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
curl -O https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/1.15.4/vault_1.15.4_darwin_arm64.zip

# Unzip
unzip vault_1.15.4_darwin_arm64.zip

# Move to PATH
sudo mv vault /usr/local/bin/

# Verify
vault version

Install on Linux

Ubuntu / Debian (apt)

# Add HashiCorp GPG key
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg

# Add the repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update && sudo apt install vault

# Verify
vault version

RHEL / CentOS / Amazon Linux (yum)

# Add HashiCorp repository
sudo yum install -y yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.hashicorp.com/RHEL/hashicorp.repo

# Install Vault
sudo yum install -y vault

# Verify
vault version

Binary Download (Any Linux)

# Download
curl -O https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/1.15.4/vault_1.15.4_linux_amd64.zip

# Unzip
unzip vault_1.15.4_linux_amd64.zip

# Move to PATH
sudo mv vault /usr/local/bin/

# Set capabilities (avoids running as root for mlock)
sudo setcap cap_ipc_lock=+ep /usr/local/bin/vault

# Verify
vault version

Install on Windows

Chocolatey

# Install via Chocolatey
choco install vault

# Verify
vault version

Binary Download

  1. Download from releases.hashicorp.com/vault
  2. Unzip vault_1.15.4_windows_amd64.zip
  3. Add the folder to your PATH environment variable
  4. Open a new terminal and run vault version

Install with Docker

Docker is the fastest way to run Vault without installing anything:

# Pull the image
docker pull hashicorp/vault:1.15

# Verify
docker run --rm hashicorp/vault:1.15 vault version

Expected output:

Vault v1.15.4 (9b61934559ba31150860e618cf18e816cbddc630), built 2024-01-26T14:53:40Z

Run Dev Server in Docker

docker run --rm -d \
    --name vault-dev \
    -p 8200:8200 \
    -e 'VAULT_DEV_ROOT_TOKEN_ID=my-root-token' \
    -e 'VAULT_DEV_LISTEN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:8200' \
    hashicorp/vault:1.15

# Set environment
export VAULT_ADDR='http://127.0.0.1:8200'
export VAULT_TOKEN='my-root-token'

# Verify
vault status

Enable Shell Autocompletion

Vault supports tab completion for bash and zsh:

# Install autocomplete
vault -autocomplete-install

# Restart your shell
exec $SHELL

# Now you can tab-complete
vault secr<TAB>   # completes to "vault secrets"
vault secrets l<TAB>  # completes to "vault secrets list"

Verify Installation

After installing via any method, run these checks:

# Check version
vault version

# Check that the binary is in PATH
which vault

# Test a basic command (will fail without a server, but proves CLI works)
vault status
# Expected: Error connecting — that's OK, no server is running yet

Quick Reference

Method Command Best For
Homebrew brew install hashicorp/tap/vault macOS users
apt sudo apt install vault Ubuntu / Debian
yum sudo yum install vault RHEL / CentOS / Amazon Linux
Binary Download + move to PATH Any OS, air-gapped environments
Docker docker pull hashicorp/vault:1.15 Quick labs, CI/CD
Chocolatey choco install vault Windows users

Next: Dev Server

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