# Setting Up OpenWebUI with Custom Backend

This guide explains how to configure OpenWebUI to use your custom AI service as its backend.

## Overview

OpenWebUI is designed to work with Ollama directly, but it can be configured to use a custom backend service instead. This allows you to add your own business logic, authentication, and other features while still using OpenWebUI's user-friendly interface.

## Prerequisites

1. OpenWebUI installed and running (at http://104.225.217.215:8080)
2. Your AI service deployed and running (at http://your-server-ip:5252)

## Configuration Steps

### 1. Locate OpenWebUI's Environment Configuration

If you're running OpenWebUI using Docker, you can modify the environment variables in your docker-compose.yml file or when running the container:

```yaml
version: '3'
services:
  openwebui:
    image: openwebui/openwebui:latest
    environment:
      - OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL=http://your-server-ip:5252/ollama
      - OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://your-server-ip:5252/api
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
```

If you're running OpenWebUI directly, you can modify the .env file in the OpenWebUI installation directory.

### 2. Set the API Base URLs

Add or modify the following environment variables:

```
OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL=http://your-server-ip:5252/ollama
OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://your-server-ip:5252/api
```

Replace `your-server-ip` with the IP address or hostname of the server where your AI service is running.

### 3. Restart OpenWebUI

After updating the environment variables, restart the OpenWebUI service to apply the changes.

If you're using Docker:

```bash
docker restart openwebui
```

If you're running OpenWebUI directly:

```bash
# Stop the current process
pkill -f "openwebui"

# Start OpenWebUI again
cd /path/to/openwebui
npm start
```

## Testing the Integration

To test if the integration is working correctly:

1. Open OpenWebUI in your browser (http://104.225.217.215:8080)
2. Try to create a new chat
3. Select one of the models (gemma3, llama3.3, llama3.1, mistral, or deepseek)
4. Send a message and check if you get a response

If everything is configured correctly, OpenWebUI will send requests to your AI service, which will then forward them to the Ollama API.

## Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues with the integration:

1. Check the logs of your AI service:
   ```bash
   tail -f logs/ai_service.log
   ```

2. Check the logs of OpenWebUI:
   ```bash
   docker logs openwebui
   ```

3. Verify that your AI service is running and accessible:
   ```bash
   curl http://your-server-ip:5252/health
   ```

4. Verify that the OpenWebUI environment variables are set correctly:
   ```bash
   docker exec openwebui env | grep URL
   ```

## Advanced Configuration

For advanced configuration options, refer to the OpenWebUI documentation:
https://docs.openwebui.com/getting-started/env-configuration