Open WebUI

---
schema: "https://insidethemachine.ai/schema/listing.schema.json"
slug: "open-webui"
name: "Open WebUI"
category: "Frontends / Chat UIs"
stack_layer: "harness"
homepage: "https://openwebui.com/"
repo: "https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui"
docs: "https://docs.openwebui.com/"
license: "Open WebUI License (includes a requirement to preserve 'Open WebUI' branding; see LICENSE and LICENSE_HISTORY)"
platforms: ["macos-apple-silicon", "linux", "windows"]
mac_studio_fit: "Primary"
stars: 155789
stars_as_of: "2026-10-15"
last_push: "2026-10-15"
gap_score: null
gap_score_status: "pending test on Mac Studio"
benchmarks_status: "pending test on Mac Studio"
verified_on: "2026-10-15"
sponsored: false
---

# Open WebUI

> A self-hosted, ChatGPT-style interface for Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

**What:** A ChatGPT-style app for your local models. **Why:** Makes a local stack feel like a finished product.

**Stack layer:** harness (model → runtime → harness → memory → tools)

A self-hosted web UI for LLMs. Installs via pip, uv, Docker or Kubernetes; connects to Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.

**Gap role:** Closes the UX gap with frontier chat apps: multi-model chat, RAG over documents, user accounts.

## Gap Score

null (pending test on Mac Studio)

## Prerequisites

- Python 3.11 (the README warns other versions may cause compatibility issues) OR Docker
- A model backend such as Ollama

## Install

### macOS (Apple Silicon)

1. Run:

```bash
brew install python@3.11
```

2. Run:

```bash
python3.11 -m venv ~/.venvs/openwebui && source ~/.venvs/openwebui/bin/activate
```

3. Run:

```bash
pip install open-webui
```

4. Run:

```bash
# Docker alternative (UI on port 3000):
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
```

### Linux

1. Run:

```bash
pip install open-webui   # inside a Python 3.11 venv
```

2. Run:

```bash
# or Docker: same docker run command as macOS
```

### Windows

1. Run:

```bash
pip install open-webui   # inside a Python 3.11 venv, or use Docker Desktop with the docker run command
```

## Configure

1. pip install: UI at http://localhost:8080:

```bash
open-webui serve
```

2. Run:

```bash
# Ollama on the same machine is detected at its default address; for a remote Ollama set -e OLLAMA_BASE_URL=... on docker run
```

## Verify

1. Expect: HTTP 200 (pip) — use port 3000 for the Docker command

```bash
curl -sI http://localhost:8080 | head -1
```

2. Expect: container listed as Up (Docker install)

```bash
docker ps --filter name=open-webui
```

## Rollback

1. pip install:

```bash
pip uninstall -y open-webui && rm -rf ~/.venvs/openwebui
```

2. Docker install; the volume holds chats/users, irreversible:

```bash
docker rm -f open-webui && docker volume rm open-webui
```

## One-command install

Status: docs-checked (Not run: commands checked against the official docs only). The wrapper scripts are generated from the site data. Every .sh passed bash -n and shellcheck and ran in plan mode on Linux (Debian 13). Every .ps1 passed the PowerShell parser and chat.ps1 ran in plan, verify and rollback mode under PowerShell 7 on Linux with Windows calls mocked. Not run on macOS or real Windows.

```bash
curl -fsSL https://insidethemachine.ai/install/open-webui.sh | bash            # install, then check
curl -fsSL https://insidethemachine.ai/install/open-webui.sh | bash -s -- plan    # print only
curl -fsSL https://insidethemachine.ai/install/open-webui.sh | bash -s -- rollback --yes
```

Details and Windows: https://insidethemachine.ai/install/open-webui.md

## Caveats

- Default pip port 8080 collides with mlx_lm.server and llama.cpp's server defaults.

## Benchmarks

Status: pending test on Mac Studio. Rig: Mac Studio, Apple Silicon, 128GB unified memory. No results published yet.

## Works with

- ollama (https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/ollama.md)
- llama-cpp (https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/llama-cpp.md)
- mlx-lm (https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/mlx-lm.md)
- lm-studio (https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/lm-studio.md)
- litellm (https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/litellm.md)

## Sources

- https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui
- https://docs.openwebui.com/