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Open WebUI

Open WebUI is a self-hosted chat interface for local and hosted large language models. It can sign users in through any OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider. With Casdoor as the provider, users sign in with their Casdoor account, and Casdoor groups decide which models, knowledge bases, and tools they see.

Create the application in Casdoor​

  1. In the Casdoor admin console, open the organization of your users and add an application, or open an existing one.

  2. Add the callback of Open WebUI to Redirect URLs:

    https://chat.example.com/oauth/oidc/callback

  3. On the OIDC/OAuth tab, set Token group format to Name (group), so groups arrive as engineering instead of my-org/engineering.

  4. Save, and note the Client ID and Client secret.

Configure Open WebUI​

  1. Set these environment variables on the Open WebUI container:

    WEBUI_URL=https://chat.example.com
    ENABLE_OAUTH_SIGNUP=true
    DEFAULT_USER_ROLE=user
    OAUTH_PROVIDER_NAME=Casdoor
    OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
    OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret>
    OPENID_PROVIDER_URL=https://door.example.com/.well-known/openid-configuration
    OAUTH_SCOPES=openid email profile
    ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_MANAGEMENT=true
    OAUTH_GROUP_CLAIM=groups
    • WEBUI_URL: The public URL of Open WebUI. The callback is built from it.
    • DEFAULT_USER_ROLE: The role of new users. The default, pending, makes an administrator approve each one.
    • OPENID_PROVIDER_URL: Casdoor's discovery document.
    • ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_MANAGEMENT: Syncs the user's Open WebUI groups with the groups claim at each sign-in.

  2. Restart Open WebUI.

Verify the result​

  1. Open Open WebUI in a private browser window. The sign-in page shows Continue with Casdoor.
  2. Click it and sign in to Casdoor. Open WebUI opens with the Casdoor user signed in.
  3. As an Open WebUI administrator, open the user list. The new user is in the groups that match their Casdoor groups.

Open WebUI only adds users to groups that already exist in Open WebUI. Create the groups first, or set ENABLE_OAUTH_GROUP_CREATION=true to create them at sign-in.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomCause and fix
New users wait for approvalDEFAULT_USER_ROLE is pending. Set it to user, or approve the users in the admin panel.
Casdoor shows Redirect URI: ... doesn't exist in the allowed Redirect URI listWEBUI_URL differs from the address in Redirect URLs. Make them match.
The OAuth settings in the admin panel can't be changedBy default, the environment variables are the source of truth for OAuth. Change the variables and restart.
An existing local user gets a second accountSet OAUTH_MERGE_ACCOUNTS_BY_EMAIL=true to sign them in to the account with the same email.

See also​