Open WebUI simplifies the process of embedding AI capabilities into web environments. It allows developers to create dynamic interfaces. Users can enter data, view AI-generated outputs, and visualize real-time results. Its open-source nature provides flexibility for customization, adapting to various AI project requirements, or integrating with popular machine learning libraries. (This summary was written, in part, using the deepseek-r1:32b model).
Open WebUI Installation
We installed Open WebUI as a Docker container using the approach outlined in the video below.
Encryption and reverse proxy implementation is handled using Traefik. A docker-compose template file for our installation follows. It can be installed as a Portainer stack.
services:
openwebui:
image: ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:0.5.20
container_name: openwebui
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
# Ollama Config
- OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://<your server IP>:11434
# Map configuration to our docker persitent store
volumes:
- /mnt/nfs/docker/open-webui/data:/app/backend/data:rw
# Connect to our Traefik proxy network
networks:
- proxy
# Configure for Traefik reverse proxy
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui.rule=Host(`openwebui.anita-fred.net`)"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.openwebui-https-redirect.redirectscheme.scheme=https"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui.middlewares=openwebui-https-redirect"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui-secure.entrypoints=https"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui-secure.rule=Host(`openwebui.anita-fred.net`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui-secure.tls=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.openwebui-secure.service=openwebui"
- "traefik.http.services.openwebui.loadbalancer.server.port=8080"
- "traefik.docker.network=proxy"
- "traefik.http.services.openwebui.loadBalancer.server.port=8080"
volumes:
data:
driver: local
networks:
proxy:
external: trueOnce the stack is running, you can set up your user account. The final step is to allow access to the WebUI via a proxy host, our Nginx Proxy Manager.
What Can I Do With Open WebUI and LLMs?
This tool can be used for a variety of applications involving local—and cloud-based LLMs. A great place to start is the Tutorials page.
Using Paid APIs
You can use Open WebUI with paid services like ChatGPT. The video above explains how to set this up.