vault: concept and UX

[jans23]

Vault is ambiguous how to store user names and passwords. I see two options:

A)

Name	Value
Username	<Username>
Password	<Password>

B)

Name	Value
<Username>	<Password>

I see this ambiguity as problematic because:

• When sharing several vaults and secrets in larger teams, inconsistency could cause users to interpret and use the stored secrets differently, causing problems
• If in the future a browser add-on would automatically fill forms, that need to be consistent.

From @fkantelberg I understand that option A was intended. But in this case a good UX lacks:

• For column "Name" use (configurable) drop down entries instead of free text. (see Nextcloud's password manager)
• Support different field types so that for example the user name is not hidden but shown in clear text
• Even better: add a static user name field to the top (next to name and URL)

For option B a good UX lacks:

• All of option A
• a Copy button at the column "Name" to copy the user name.

Which of these two options do you use? What do you think of the suggested improvements?

[jans23]

@cvinh any opinion?

[cvinh]

Hello IMHO it's better to improve option A because it's more flexible and it was how the module was created

[fkantelberg]

It really depends how you use it and therefore nothing was enforced by the module.

E.g. if you have one service with a list of users and passwords (for different access levels for testing etc.) than option B might be good to use. Option A can be favorable if your username should also be encrypted where option B leaves it plain in the database. There are enough free text fields which can be made descriptive enough that the people know what is stored where and some guidelines might be enough within the companies.

If you want to support an autofill later with an browser plugin there is still an option to extend it with a selection to categorize it later. (additional and not as a replacement for the free text. If you want to do some JS you can try that you have a selection or the free text if the selection is empty or just use an additional column).

Btw I don't advice for different field types. If there is an option that the right side isn't encrypted it might leak credentials to the database.

[jans23]

@CarlosRoca13 Any opinion on this?