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Using Podman

Podman is a daemonless container engine for developing, managing, and running OCI Containers.

Basic Commands​

  • Run a Container:

    podman run -d --name openwebui -p 3000:8080 -v open-webui:/app/backend/data -e WEBUI_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

  • List Running Containers:

    podman ps

Networking with Podman​

If networking issues arise (specifically on rootless Podman), you may need to adjust the network bridge settings.

Slirp4netns Deprecation

Older Podman instructions often recommended slirp4netns. However, slirp4netns is being deprecated and will be removed in Podman 6.

The modern successor is pasta, which is the default in Podman 5.0+.

Accessing the Host (Local Services)​

If you are running Ollama or other services directly on your host machine, use the special DNS name host.containers.internal to point to your computer.

Modern Approach (Pasta - Default in Podman 5+)​

No special flags are usually needed to access the host via host.containers.internal.

Legacy Approach (Slirp4netns)​

If you are on an older version of Podman and pasta is not available:

  1. Ensure you have slirp4netns installed.
  2. Start the container with the following flag to allow host loopback:
podman run -d --network=slirp4netns:allow_host_loopback=true --name openwebui -p 3000:8080 -v open-webui:/app/backend/data -e WEBUI_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

Connection Configuration​

Once inside Open WebUI, go to your avatar > Settings > Admin > Connections and set your Ollama API connection to: http://host.containers.internal:11434

Refer to the Podman documentation for advanced configurations.

Uninstall​

To uninstall Open WebUI running with Podman, follow these steps:

  1. Stop and Remove the Container:

    podman rm -f openwebui

  2. Remove the Image (Optional):

    podman rmi ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

  3. Remove the Volume (Optional, WARNING: Deletes all data): If you want to completely remove your data (chats, settings, etc.):

    podman volume rm open-webui
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a warranty, guarantee, or contractual commitment. Open WebUI is provided "as is." See your license for applicable terms.