🧩 Run Open WebUI with FastFlowLM (Windows, YAML Method)

This guide walks you through using docker-compose.yaml to run Open WebUI connected to a local FastFlowLM instance on Windows.

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✅ Prerequisites

1. Docker Desktop for Windows
   • During installation, enable WSL2 backend
   • Reboot if prompted
2. FastFlowLM

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📁 Step 1: Create Project Folder

Open PowerShell and run:

mkdir open-webui && cd open-webui

This creates a clean workspace for your Docker setup.

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📝 Step 2: Create docker-compose.yaml

Launch Notepad:

notepad docker-compose.yaml

Paste the following:

services:
  open-webui:
    image: ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main
    container_name: open-webui
    ports:
      - "3000:8080"
    volumes:
      - open-webui-data:/app/backend/data
    environment:
      - OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:11434
      - WEBUI_AUTH=false 
      - WEBUI_SECRET_KEY=dummysecretkey
      - ENABLE_TITLE_GENERATION=false
      - ENABLE_FOLLOW_UP_GENERATION=false
      - ENABLE_TAGS_GENERATION=false
      - ENABLE_RETRIEVAL_QUERY_GENERATION=false
      - ENABLE_IMAGE_PROMPT_GENERATION=false
      - ENABLE_WEB_SEARCH=false
      - ENABLE_SEARCH_QUERY_GENERATION=false
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  open-webui-data:

OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:11434 connects Open WebUI to local FastFlowLM
WEBUI_AUTH=false disables login (optional)

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▶️ Step 3: Launch the Open WebUI Container (in PowerShell)

docker compose up -d

It could take up to 1 min before you can access Open WebUI.

This starts the container in detached mode.
You can check logs with:

docker logs -f open-webui

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🌐 Step 4: Access the WebUI (in Browser)

Open browser and go to:
http://localhost:3000

You should now see the Open WebUI interface.

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🧪 Step 5: Serve FastFlowLM with Model

flm serve llama3.2:1b

You can now use FastFlowLM directly in Open WebUI.

When switching models, it may take longer time to replace the model in memory.

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🧼 Step 6: Stop or Clean Up (in PowerShell)

docker compose stop

To remove it completely:

docker compose down

This also removes the container but keeps persistent volume data.

or

docker compose down -v

This removes the container and persistent volume data.

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🧠 Notes

• Want login? Set WEBUI_AUTH=true
• You must keep FastFlowLM server running
• http://host.docker.internal:11434 bridges from Docker container to your native Windows host FastFlowLM API
• For persistent chat history, the volume openwebui-data stores user data

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Note (When using Open WebUI):
The Open WebUI sends multiple background requests to the server.
To improve stability and performance, disable these in Settings → Chat:

• Title Auto-Generation
• Follow-Up Auto-Generation
• Chat Tags Auto-Generation

Toggle them off, then refresh the page.

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