Open WebUI
Self-hosted user interface for artificial intelligence models
Open WebUI is a self-hosted graphical user interface for interacting with artificial intelligence models, particularly large language models. It can be used as a browser-based interface for locally hosted models through software such as Ollama and for remote models provided through OpenAI-compatible application programming interfaces (APIs).
When used with locally hosted models, Open WebUI can operate entirely offline, while remotely hosted models can be accessed over the Internet through third-party providers. It provides a ChatGPT-style interface while allowing users to select among different models and providers.
01History
Open WebUI was created by Timothy J. Baek in 2023 and was originally named Ollama WebUI. The project initially served as a web interface for Ollama before expanding to support additional model providers and APIs. It was renamed Open WebUI in February 2024 to reflect its broader scope.
02Features
Open WebUI provides a web-based chat interface that can connect to Ollama and services implementing an OpenAI-compatible API. Users can interact with multiple models from the same interface and deploy the software using methods including Docker, Kubernetes, or Python.
The software includes support for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) using uploaded documents and knowledge bases. Other features include web search, image generation, voice interaction, model tools and external extensions.
Open WebUI can connect to external tools and services through mechanisms including OpenAPI servers and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It also supports Python-based tools that execute within an Open WebUI installation.
Open WebUI is primarily used with locally hosted large language models, but it can also access models hosted by third-party providers through compatible APIs.
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Local hosting |
Third-party hosting |
03Licensing
Early versions of Open WebUI were released under the MIT License, and the project later changed to the BSD 3-Clause License. Beginning with version 0.6.6 in April 2025, new code has been distributed under the Open WebUI License, which generally permits modification and redistribution but restricts removal or alteration of Open WebUI branding in deployments with more than 50 users. The project states that the license does not meet the Open Source Initiative's definition of an open-source license.
Code released under the project's earlier licenses remains governed by those licenses. The project's license notice states that earlier portions of the codebase remain under the MIT and BSD 3-Clause licenses, while later contributions are governed by the Open WebUI License.
04Security
In 2025, a vulnerability in Open WebUI's Direct Connections feature, designated CVE-2025-64496, was disclosed. The vulnerability could allow malicious model servers to execute JavaScript in a user's browser and potentially lead to account takeover or remote code execution when combined with other functionality. It affected version 0.6.34 and earlier and was patched in version 0.6.35.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Open WebUI”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Open WebUI logo.png by Open WebIO GitHub repository, Public domain
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