Add click-by-click Open WebUI admin settings guide

Replace vague "add MCP to Open WebUI" instructions with exact UI paths
for every Admin Settings sidebar item:

- Connections: verify Ollama + RAG server URLs
- Integrations: add MCP tool server at http://mcp-server:8002/sse
- Images: ComfyUI engine, URL, workflow import, node mapping
- Documents: Knowledge Collections tuning (Top K, chunk size)
- Web Search: DuckDuckGo/SearXNG toggle
- Interface: default system prompt, chat bubble UI
- Audio: STT/TTS options
- Models: set default model
- Recommended Functions: context tracker, compaction, auto memory

Instructions reference the exact sidebar labels visible in Open WebUI's
Admin Panel → Settings screen.

https://claude.ai/code/session_01PtYTPherSJaxDEVPgF6Nxu
This commit is contained in:
Claude
2026-03-22 21:42:33 +00:00
parent 7ffd012a3a
commit e2ec4406a8
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@@ -136,6 +136,147 @@ Both scripts are **idempotent** — safe to re-run for updates. Config files are
./kiwix_download.sh
```
6. **Configure Open WebUI** (see next section for exact clicks)
---
## Open WebUI Admin Settings — Click-by-Click Setup
After the stack is running, open `http://<ip>:3000`, create your admin account, then go to
**your avatar (top-right)** → **Admin Panel** → **Settings** tab at the top.
You'll see the sidebar: General, Connections, Models, Evaluations, Integrations, Documents,
Web Search, Code Execution, Interface, Audio, Images, Pipelines, Database.
Here's what to configure in each:
### Connections
This is where Open WebUI talks to Ollama and the RAG server.
1. Click **Connections** in the sidebar
2. Under **Ollama API**, verify the URL is `http://ollama:11434`
- Click the refresh icon — it should show "Connected" and list your models
3. Under **OpenAI API**, verify:
- URL: `http://rag-server:8001/v1`
- API Key: `local-rag`
- This is your RAG server posing as an OpenAI-compatible API
4. Click **Save**
> These are pre-configured by the setup script's environment variables. You usually
> don't need to change anything here — just verify the green "Connected" status.
### Models
1. Click **Models** in the sidebar
2. You should see your pulled Ollama models listed (e.g., `qwen3.5:4b`)
3. Click a model to set its **system prompt**, **temperature**, etc.
4. To set a **default model** for new chats: click the model → toggle **Default**
### Integrations (MCP Tool Server)
This is where you connect the MCP server so Open WebUI models can use tools
(search files, run bash, query git, etc.).
1. Click **Integrations** in the sidebar
2. Under **Tool Servers** section, click **+ Add Connection**
3. Enter:
- **URL:** `http://mcp-server:8002/sse`
- (Use the Docker container name, not your LAN IP — they're on the same Docker network)
4. Click **Save** / **Verify**
5. You should see your MCP tools listed (file_search, bash_exec, git_status, etc.)
Once connected, any model in Open WebUI can use these tools during chat. You'll see
tool calls appear inline when the model decides to search code, read files, etc.
> **Note:** This is separate from `claude mcp add local http://<ip>:8002/sse` which
> connects Claude Code (the CLI). Both can connect to the same MCP server simultaneously.
### Documents
Controls how Open WebUI's built-in Knowledge Collections work (the `#` tag system).
1. Click **Documents** in the sidebar
2. **Top K:** `6` (number of chunks retrieved per query — default is fine)
3. **Chunk Size:** `1500` (characters per chunk)
4. **Chunk Overlap:** `200`
5. **RAG Template:** Leave default unless you want custom formatting
> This is for Open WebUI's own Knowledge Collections, NOT the code-aware RAG server
> (which runs separately and is always active).
### Web Search
1. Click **Web Search** in the sidebar
2. **Enable Web Search:** Toggle ON
3. **Engine:** Select `duckduckgo` (no API key needed) or `searxng`
- If using SearXNG (self-hosted): URL is `http://searxng:8080`
4. Click **Save**
Once enabled, models can search the web during chat when you click the globe icon
or when the model decides it needs current information.
### Images (ComfyUI integration)
This is how "generate an image of..." works from chat.
1. Click **Images** in the sidebar
2. **Enable Image Generation:** Toggle ON
3. **Engine:** Select `ComfyUI`
4. **ComfyUI Base URL:** `http://comfyui:8188`
- (These should already be filled in from the env vars set during setup)
5. Click the **checkmark/verify** button — should show "Connected"
6. **Import Workflow:** Click and upload your `workflow_api.json`
- If you don't have one yet, see [ComfyUI workflow setup](#setup-comfyui--open-webui-recommended)
7. **Map nodes:** After importing, map the **prompt node** to the CLIPTextEncode
node (or whichever node takes the text prompt)
8. Click **Save**
> **No workflow yet?** You need to first open ComfyUI at `http://<ip>:8188`,
> build or load a workflow, enable Dev Mode (gear icon), and click
> "Save (API Format)" to get the `workflow_api.json` file. See the
> [Image Generation](#image-generation-from-open-webui) section below.
### Interface
1. Click **Interface** in the sidebar
2. **Default System Prompt:** Set a global system prompt for all chats (optional)
- Example: "You are a helpful coding assistant. Be concise."
3. **Chat Bubble UI:** Toggle to switch between chat bubbles and flat messages
4. **Rich Text Input:** Toggle ON for markdown formatting in the input box
### Audio
1. Click **Audio** in the sidebar
2. **Speech-to-Text (STT):** Select engine (browser default works, or Whisper)
3. **Text-to-Speech (TTS):** Select engine (browser default, or configure OpenAI-compatible)
4. These are optional — skip if you don't need voice
### Pipelines
Advanced: for custom middleware between the user and the model. Skip unless you're
building custom processing pipelines.
### Database
Shows database stats. No configuration needed.
---
### Recommended Open WebUI Functions (one-time install)
These are community add-ons that improve the chat experience. Install from
**Admin Panel** → **Functions** tab (at the top, next to Settings) → **+** button
→ paste the URL → **Import**.
| Function | URL | What it does |
|----------|-----|-------------|
| Context Tracker | `https://openwebui.com/f/centrisic/context_tracker` | Shows tokens used vs available, progress bar, context % remaining |
| Context Compaction | `https://openwebui.com/f/projectmoon/checkpoint_summarization_filter` | Auto-summarizes old messages when context fills up (like Claude does) |
| Auto Memory | Search "Auto Memory" in Discover | Automatically stores relevant info as persistent memories across chats |
After importing each function, toggle it **ON** in the Functions list.
---
## Querying Your Codebase from Open WebUI