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Docker with External Ollama

Use this setup when Ollama already runs on your host, another server, or a Tailscale/LAN machine.

Prerequisites​

Confirm Ollama is reachable:

curl http://localhost:11434/api/version

Pull a model if the instance is new:

ollama pull gemma3:4b

Start Libre WebUI​

From the repository root:

docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml up -d

Open http://localhost:8080.

The compose file points OLLAMA_BASE_URL to http://host.docker.internal:11434 by default.

Custom Ollama URL​

For a different host:

OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://192.168.1.100:11434 docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml up -d

For Linux hosts that do not resolve host.docker.internal, add this to the service:

extra_hosts:
  - 'host.docker.internal:host-gateway'

Data Persistence​

The compose file stores Libre WebUI data in Docker volumes:

  • libre_webui_data
  • libre_webui_temp

Set stable secrets for production:

JWT_SECRET=replace-with-a-long-random-secret
ENCRYPTION_KEY=replace-with-64-hex-characters

Back up the data volume and encryption key together.

Network Access​

If you access the app from another device, include that origin:

CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:8080,http://192.168.1.50:8080

For a public domain, use HTTPS and set:

BASE_URL=https://your-domain.example
CORS_ORIGIN=https://your-domain.example

Useful Commands​

docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml ps
docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml logs -f libre-webui
docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml restart
docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml up -d

Troubleshooting​

Libre WebUI cannot reach Ollama

docker compose -f docker-compose.external-ollama.yml exec libre-webui \
  wget -O- http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/version

If that fails, use an explicit LAN/Tailscale IP in OLLAMA_BASE_URL.

Models do not appear

Check the Ollama host:

ollama list

The Model Manager reads from the configured Ollama instance.

CORS errors

Make sure CORS_ORIGIN matches the exact browser origin, including scheme and port.