🧩 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.

✅ Prerequisites

Docker Desktop for Windows
- During installation, enable WSL2 backend
- Reboot if prompted
FastFlowLM

📁 Step 1: Create Project Folder

Open PowerShell and run:

mkdir open-webui && cd open-webui

This creates a clean workspace for your Docker setup.

📝 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
    environment:
      - OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:11434
      - WEBUI_AUTH=false
      - WEBUI_SECRET_KEY=dummysecretkey
    volumes:
      - openwebui-data:/app/backend/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  openwebui-data:

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

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

docker compose up -d

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

docker logs -f open-webui

🌐 Step 4: Access the WebUI (in Browser)

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

You should now see the Open WebUI interface.

🧪 Step 5: Serve FastFlowLM with Model

flm serve llama3.2:1B

You can now use FastFlowLM directly in Open WebUI.

🧼 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.

docker compose down -v

This removes the container and persistent volume data.

🧠 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