How to Set Up Open-WebUI with Ollama (Docker Guide)

Quick Install with Docker (Recommended for Local Use)

If Ollama is running natively on the same machine (not in Docker), use this single command to install and start Open-WebUI:

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

What each flag does:

• `-p 3000:8080` — maps port 8080 inside the container to port 3000 on your machine
• `--add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway` — lets the container reach Ollama running on the host machine
• `-v open-webui:/app/backend/data` — persists your conversations, settings, and uploads in a Docker volume
• `--restart always` — restarts Open-WebUI automatically if the container stops or the server reboots

Wait 30-60 seconds for the image to download and the container to start. Then open your browser at:

http://localhost:3000

After creating your account, select a model from the dropdown at the top of the chat window and start a conversation.

Verify Ollama Connection

If the model dropdown is empty or shows "No models available", Open-WebUI cannot reach Ollama. Check the connection:

# From inside the Open-WebUI container, test the Ollama API
docker exec open-webui curl -s http://host.docker.internal:11434
# Expected: Ollama is running

If that command fails, Ollama is not running or the `host.docker.internal` DNS entry is not resolving. Start Ollama: `ollama serve` (or `sudo systemctl start ollama` on Linux).

Docker Compose Setup (Ollama + Open-WebUI Together)

Use Docker Compose when you want to run Ollama and Open-WebUI in containers together — common for remote server deployments or when you want everything managed in one file.

Create a project directory and a `docker-compose.yml` file:

mkdir -p ~/open-webui && cd ~/open-webui
nano docker-compose.yml

Paste the following:

version: '3.8'

volumes:
  ollama_data:
  open_webui_data:

services:
  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ollama_data:/root/.ollama
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    # Uncomment the lines below to enable NVIDIA GPU passthrough
    # deploy:
    #   resources:
    #     reservations:
    #       devices:
    #         - driver: nvidia
    #           count: all
    #           capabilities: [gpu]

  open-webui:
    image: ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:8080"
    environment:
      - OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://ollama:11434
    volumes:
      - open_webui_data:/app/backend/data
    depends_on:
      - ollama

Start both services:

docker compose up -d

Check both containers are running:

docker compose ps

NAME                        STATUS
open-webui-ollama-1         Up 30 seconds
open-webui-open-webui-1     Up 28 seconds

Pull a model into the Ollama container:

# Run ollama pull inside the Ollama container
docker compose exec ollama ollama pull llama3.3:8b

First Use and Key Features

After creating your admin account, here is what to explore first.

Select and Load a Model

Open the model dropdown at the top centre of the chat window. All models pulled with Ollama appear here. Select `llama3.3:8b` (or whichever model you pulled) and start a conversation.

Upload Files for Document Q&A

Open-WebUI supports RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) out of the box. Click the paperclip icon in the chat input to upload a PDF, Word document, or text file. The model reads the document and answers questions about its content.

Manage Multiple Users

In the admin panel (click your username at the bottom left, then Admin Panel), you can:

• Approve pending user registrations
• Set default models for new users
• Configure which models are visible to non-admin users
• Enable or disable user registration

Change the Ollama Server URL

If you need to point Open-WebUI at a different Ollama instance, go to Settings (gear icon) > Connections. Update the Ollama API URL field. This is useful if Ollama is running on a different machine than Open-WebUI.

Enable Web Search

Open-WebUI supports web search integration via SearXNG (self-hosted search), Bing Search API, or Google Programmable Search. Go to Admin Panel > Settings > Web Search to configure a search provider. Once enabled, users can prefix queries with `@web` to include search results as context.

Key Configuration Options

Open-WebUI reads configuration from environment variables passed to the Docker container.

To set variables in your Docker run command, add `-e VARIABLE=value` flags. In Docker Compose, add them under the `environment:` section of the open-webui service.

Example: disabling auth for a single-user local setup:

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:8080 \
  --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
  -v open-webui:/app/backend/data \
  -e WEBUI_AUTH=false \
  --name open-webui \
  --restart always \
  ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

Update Open-WebUI

Open-WebUI releases updates frequently. Update by pulling the latest image and recreating the container:

Docker (single container)

# Pull the latest image
docker pull ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

# Stop and remove the current container (data is in the named volume, not the container)
docker stop open-webui
docker rm open-webui

# Start a new container with the updated image
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

Docker Compose

cd ~/open-webui

# Pull new images
docker compose pull

# Recreate containers with new images
docker compose up -d

Your conversations, settings, and uploaded documents are stored in the `open-webui` Docker volume, which is not affected by container removal.

Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions

# Copy the data directory to your host machine
docker cp open-webui:/app/backend/data ./open-webui-backup

# Or create a compressed archive
docker run --rm \
  -v open-webui:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine tar czf /backup/open-webui-backup.tar.gz -C /data .