SELF-HOSTED AI INTERFACE

What is Open WebUI?

Open WebUI is a browser-based interface for AI models. It can sit in front of Ollama on your own machine, connect to Ollama on another server, or talk to compatible hosted providers.

Open WebUI is not the model runtime

When you connect it to Ollama, Ollama still loads and runs the model. Open WebUI manages the interface, conversations, connections and additional features.

Why use it?

It gives you a polished chat interface that can be shared across devices and can centralise access to multiple providers.

Can it run with Ollama in Docker?

Yes. The current quick start documents standalone Docker deployment, NVIDIA GPU variants and bundled configurations that include Ollama.

Does Open WebUI make AI private?

No interface can guarantee that by itself. Local Ollama can keep inference local, while cloud provider connections send prompts to those services.

Watch the context setting

Open WebUI documents that setting num_ctx inside Open WebUI overrides the Ollama server default. A tiny context can truncate prompts, while a large one increases RAM and VRAM use.

Sources: Open WebUI quick start and Ollama connection guide.