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This tutorial is a community contribution and is not supported by the Open WebUI team. It serves only as a demonstration on how to customize Open WebUI for your specific use case. Want to contribute? Check out the contributing tutorial.

🔗 Okta OIDC SSO Integration

Overview​

This documentation page outlines the steps required to integrate Okta OIDC Single Sign-On (SSO) with Open WebUI. It also covers the optional feature of managing Open WebUI user groups based on Okta group membership. By following these steps, you will enable users to log in to Open WebUI using their Okta credentials. If you choose to enable group syncing, users can also be automatically assigned to relevant groups within Open WebUI based on their Okta groups.

Prerequisites​

  • A new or existing Open WebUI instance.
  • An Okta account with administrative privileges to create and configure applications.
  • Basic understanding of OIDC, Okta application configuration, and Open WebUI environment variables.

Setting up Okta​

First, you need to configure an OIDC application within your Okta organization and set up a groups claim to pass group information to Open WebUI.

1. Create/Configure OIDC Application in Okta​

  1. Log in to your Okta Admin Console.
  2. Navigate to Applications > Applications.
  3. Either create a new OIDC - OpenID Connect application (choose Web Application as the type) or select an existing one you wish to use for Open WebUI.
  4. During setup or in the application's General settings tab, configure the Sign-in redirect URIs. Add the URI for your Open WebUI instance, followed by /oauth/oidc/callback. Example: https://your-open-webui.com/oauth/oidc/callback.
  5. Take note of the Client ID and Client secret provided on the application's General tab. You will need these for the Open WebUI configuration.
  6. Ensure the correct users or groups are assigned to this application under the Assignments tab.

2. Add a Groups Claim to the ID Token​

(Optional) To enable automatic group management in Open WebUI based on Okta groups, you need to configure Okta to send the user's group memberships in the ID token. If you only need SSO login and prefer to manage groups manually within Open WebUI, you can skip this section.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to Applications > Applications and select your OIDC client app.
  2. Go to the Sign On tab and click Edit in the OpenID Connect ID Token section.
  3. In the Group claim type section, select Filter.
  4. In the Group claims filter section:
    • Enter groups as the claim name (or use the default if present).
    • Select Matches regex from the dropdown.
    • Enter .* in the regex field. This will include all groups the user is a member of. You can use a more specific regex if needed.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Click the Back to applications link.
  7. From the More button dropdown menu for your application, click Refresh Application Data.

For more advanced group claim configurations, refer to the Okta documentation on customizing tokens and group functions.

Configuring Open WebUI​

To enable Okta OIDC SSO in Open WebUI, you need to set the following core environment variables. Additional variables are required if you wish to enable the optional group management feature.

# --- OIDC Core Settings ---
# Enable OAuth signup if you want users to be able to create accounts via Okta
# ENABLE_OAUTH_SIGNUP="true"

# Your Okta application's Client ID
OAUTH_CLIENT_ID="YOUR_OKTA_CLIENT_ID"

# Your Okta application's Client Secret
OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET="YOUR_OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET"

# Your Okta organization's OIDC discovery URL
# Format: https://<your-okta-domain>/.well-known/openid-configuration
# Or for a specific authorization server: https://<your-okta-domain>/oauth2/<auth-server-id>/.well-known/openid-configuration
OPENID_PROVIDER_URL="YOUR_OKTA_OIDC_DISCOVERY_URL"

# Name displayed on the login button (e.g., "Login with Okta")
OAUTH_PROVIDER_NAME="Okta"

# Scopes to request (default is usually sufficient)
# OAUTH_SCOPES="openid email profile groups" # Ensure 'groups' is included if not default

# --- OAuth Group Management (Optional) ---
# Set to "true" only if you configured the Groups Claim in Okta (Step 2)
# and want Open WebUI groups to be managed based on Okta groups.
# ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_MANAGEMENT="true"

# Required only if ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_MANAGEMENT is true.
# The claim name in the ID token containing group information (must match Okta config)
# OAUTH_GROUP_CLAIM="groups"

Replace YOUR_OKTA_CLIENT_ID, YOUR_OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET, and YOUR_OKTA_OIDC_DISCOVERY_URL with the actual values from your Okta application configuration. If enabling group management, ensure OAUTH_GROUP_CLAIM matches the claim name you configured in Okta (default is groups).

Session Persistence in Multi-Node Deployments

When deploying Open WebUI across multiple nodes (e.g., in a Kubernetes cluster or behind a load balancer), it is crucial to ensure session persistence for a seamless user experience, especially with SSO. Set the WEBUI_SECRET_KEY environment variable to the same secure, unique value on all Open WebUI instances.

# Example: Generate a strong secret key (e.g., using openssl rand -hex 32)
WEBUI_SECRET_KEY="YOUR_UNIQUE_AND_SECURE_SECRET_KEY"

If this key is not consistent across all nodes, users may be forced to log in again if their session is routed to a different node, as the session token signed by one node will not be valid on another. By default, the Docker image generates a random key on first start, which is unsuitable for multi-node setups.

Disabling the Standard Login Form

If you intend to only allow logins via Okta (and potentially other configured OAuth providers), you can disable the standard email/password login form by setting the following environment variable:

ENABLE_LOGIN_FORM="false"
Important Prerequisite

Setting ENABLE_LOGIN_FORM="false" requires ENABLE_OAUTH_SIGNUP="true" to be set as well. If you disable the login form without enabling OAuth signup, users (including administrators) will be unable to log in. Ensure at least one OAuth provider is configured and ENABLE_OAUTH_SIGNUP is enabled before disabling the standard login form.

Restart your Open WebUI instance after setting these environment variables.

Verification​

  1. Navigate to your Open WebUI login page. You should see a button labeled "Login with Okta" (or whatever you set for OAUTH_PROVIDER_NAME).
  2. Click the button and authenticate through the Okta login flow.
  3. Upon successful authentication, you should be redirected back to Open WebUI and logged in.
  4. If ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_MANAGEMENT is true, log in as a non-admin user. Their groups within Open WebUI should reflect their group memberships in Okta (after their first login). Note that admin users' groups are not automatically updated via SSO.
  5. Check the Open WebUI server logs for any OIDC or group-related errors if you encounter issues.

Troubleshooting​

  • 400 Bad Request/Redirect URI Mismatch: Double-check that the Sign-in redirect URI in your Okta application exactly matches <your-open-webui-url>/oauth/oidc/callback.
  • Groups Not Syncing: Verify that the OAUTH_GROUP_CLAIM environment variable matches the claim name configured in the Okta ID Token settings. Ensure the user has logged out and back in after group changes - a login flow is required to update OIDC. Remember admin groups are not synced.
  • Configuration Errors: Review the Open WebUI server logs for detailed error messages related to OIDC configuration.
  • Refer to the official Open WebUI SSO Documentation.
  • Consult the Okta Developer Documentation.