Documentation / Connect

Connect → Open WebUI

Use AxForge with Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a chat app you host yourself. Add AxForge as one connection and our models appear in its model menu.

Before you start
  • An AxForge API key. Get one (a minute).
  • Docker, to run Open WebUI. This guide was tried with Open WebUI 0.12.3 on 2026-10-17.

Set it up

  1. Start Open WebUI

    docker run -d -p 3000:8080 -v open-webui:/app/backend/data --name open-webui ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

    Open localhost:3000. The first visit asks for a name, an email and a password: that makes the admin account, on your machine only.

    Open WebUI's Get started form with Name, Email and Password, and the Create Admin Account button marked
  2. Open Connections

    Click your name at the bottom left, then Admin Panel → Settings → Connections. Press the + beside Manage OpenAI API Connections.

    Open WebUI's Connections settings, with the + beside Manage OpenAI API Connections marked
  3. Add AxForge

    URL https://api.axforge.ai/v1, your key in the field beside Bearer. Press the round arrows to test it: Server connection verified means the key works. Then Save, and Save again at the bottom of the page.

    The Add Connection dialog with the AxForge URL and a key, the verify button and Save marked, and the message Server connection verified
  4. Pick a model

    Start a new chat and open the model menu at the top. Type a name to find it: qwen3.8-27b, glm-5.3-flash or mimo-v2.6-flash. The menu also lists short aliases (such as chat, which is Qwen3.8 27B) and our image, speech and embedding models; those last are not chat models.

    Open WebUI's model menu filtered by flash, showing glm-5.3-flash and mimo-v2.6-flash
  5. Ask something

    The answer streams in, word by word.

    A chat in Open WebUI: the question and a two-sentence answer from the chat model

The settings

FieldValue
URLhttps://api.axforge.ai/v1
AuthBearer, your AxForge key
API TypeChat Completions
Modelqwen3.8-27b, glm-5.3-flash, mimo-v2.6-flash

Which model for what: qwen3.8-27b is the everyday default and reads images, glm-5.3-flash thinks before it answers, mimo-v2.6-flash is the fastest.

Or set it when you start it

Open WebUI can take the connection on its first start instead:

docker run -d -p 3000:8080 \
    -e OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=https://api.axforge.ai/v1 \
    -e OPENAI_API_KEY="$AXFORGE_API_KEY" \
    -v open-webui:/app/backend/data \
    --name open-webui ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

Read once. Open WebUI saves these on its first start. On a later start with the same volume they are ignored: change the connection under Admin Panel → Settings → Connections.

Check that it works

The verify button says Server connection verified, our models are in the model menu, and a question gets an answer. The call also shows in the console under API Keys → Recent calls within a minute.

When it does not work

Not sure which it is? The connection doctor makes seven small checks on your key and names the fix: irm https://dev.axforge.ai/assets/axforge-doctor.ps1 | iex in PowerShell, curl -fsSL https://dev.axforge.ai/assets/axforge-doctor.sh | bash on macOS and Linux.

What you seeWhat it meansFix
The verify button shows an errorthe URL or the keythe URL ends in /v1; paste the key again, whole
No AxForge models in the menuthe connection was not savedpress Save in the dialog and again at the bottom of Connections
"Missing bearer authentication" in its logOpen WebUI's own OpenAI connection, which has no keyswitch off the api.openai.com row in Connections, or give it a key
401the key was refusedmake a new key in the console and paste it

Test a call says in one click whether a problem is your key, your balance or us.

Ask on the forum Markdown For AI Updated 2026-11-06

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