Ollama Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a popular open-source web interface for Ollama. It gives you a ChatGPT-style chat page in the browser, with conversation history, model switching, document upload and multi-user accounts, all running on your own machine.

Run Open WebUI with Docker

With Ollama already running on the host, start Open WebUI and let it reach the host through host.docker.internal:

docker run -d -p 3000:8080 \
  --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
  -v open-webui:/app/backend/data \
  --name open-webui --restart always \
  ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main
Unable to find image 'ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main' locally
main: Pulling from open-webui/open-webui
...
Status: Downloaded newer image
3f2b9c...

Open http://localhost:3000. The first account you create becomes the admin. Open WebUI detects Ollama automatically; if not, set the Ollama URL to http://host.docker.internal:11434 in Admin Settings, Connections.

Install with pip

Without Docker you can install it as a Python package (check the project docs for the supported Python version):

pip install open-webui
open-webui serve
INFO:     Uvicorn running on http://0.0.0.0:8080

Useful Features

  • Pick any pulled model from a dropdown, or pull new ones from the UI.
  • Upload PDFs and documents and chat with them (built-in RAG).
  • Save custom system prompts as reusable "models" or presets.
  • User accounts and permissions for a small team.
  • Connect OpenAI-compatible cloud APIs alongside local models.

Security Notes

Open WebUI is fine on a laptop. If you expose it on a network, keep sign-ups restricted, use HTTPS through a reverse proxy, and keep the Ollama port itself closed to the outside.

Frequently asked questions

Is Open WebUI made by Ollama?

No. It is a separate open-source project that works with Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.

Why does Open WebUI show no models?

Usually the container cannot reach Ollama. Check the connection URL uses host.docker.internal and that Ollama is running.

Can several people use one Open WebUI?

Yes. It supports multiple user accounts with an admin who approves sign-ups.