This document explains what Trezor Bridge is, how it works, important recent changes, installation best practices, troubleshooting and links to official resources.
Trezor Bridge historically was a lightweight background application that allowed your web browser or desktop client to communicate securely with a Trezor hardware wallet over USB. It replaced older browser extensions and acted as the intermediary that translates browser requests to USB/HID messages for the Trezor device.
The core reason for Bridge was compatibility and security: browsers restrict direct access to USB hardware for web apps, so Bridge provided a controlled, signed local interface that Trezor Suite and certain web apps could safely use to talk to a hardware wallet.
Trezor has deprecated the standalone Trezor Bridge in favor of tighter integration via Trezor Suite and newer communication daemons (for example, the repository known as trezord-go) and browser-native approaches like WebUSB where supported. If you still have a legacy standalone Bridge installed it may interfere with modern Suite releases — follow the official guidance to remove or update it.
In practice: most users will now use Trezor Suite (desktop or web) which bundles the necessary communication components or uses secure browser APIs. Developers and advanced users will find maintained projects on Trezor's GitHub for deeper integration.
The Bridge runs locally and listens on a loopback address. When a web page or Suite needs to talk to your Trezor, it sends a request to Bridge which then relays the USB/HID message to the device and returns the response. This limits raw USB access to a single signed binary rather than many browser extensions.
The local-bridge approach reduces the attack surface by centralizing low-level access to the one signed program. Still, users should only download Bridge or Suite from official channels and verify signatures.
For most users the recommended approach is to install Trezor Suite (desktop) or use Suite in web mode. Suite handles communication and includes the latest compatibility and security fixes.
If you have a specific legacy requirement for a standalone Bridge, follow the official installation pages and the deprecation instructions carefully. Note that distributions or systems without systemd may have additional constraints when installing Bridge packages.
After downloading installers, follow the official verification steps (GPG signatures / checksums) described on the Trezor documentation pages before running any installers.
If you suspect a firmware or device-specific problem, or you find a security-related issue, use official support channels and the GitHub issue trackers listed below rather than third-party forums.
Developers can inspect the trezord-go repository and the Trezor Suite monorepo (which includes Connect) on GitHub to integrate hardware wallet functionality into apps or to run local communication daemons for specialized setups.
For security disclosures, follow the official process listed on Trezor's documentation and report vulnerabilities privately to the security contact.