> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://arka-agent.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Open WebUI frontend

> Chat with Arka in Open WebUI. The launcher locks chat to the arka model and turns on DuckDuckGo web search by default.

`arka frontend open-webui` starts [Open WebUI](https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui) with an OpenAI-compatible bridge to your Arka agent. Use it when you want a browser chat interface for Arka without running the React [web dashboard](/guides/web-dashboard).

## Prerequisites

* `REMOTE_TOKEN` set in `~/.config/arka/.env`. The bridge uses it to authenticate with `arka serve`.
* Docker running, or Open WebUI installed with `pip install open-webui` (Python 3.11+).

## Launch

```bash theme={null}
arka frontend open-webui --open
```

Arka starts the agent backend if it isn't running. Then it starts the bridge and Open WebUI. Arka uses Docker when it's available. Otherwise, pass `--pip` to use a pip install.

| Flag | Default | Purpose |
| - | - | - |
| `--port` | `3000` (Docker), `8080` (pip) | Open WebUI port |
| `--bridge-port` | `8769` | OpenAI bridge port |
| `--host` | `127.0.0.1` | Bridge listen host |
| `--docker` | on when Docker is running | Run Open WebUI in Docker |
| `--pip` | off | Run Open WebUI from a pip install |
| `--open` | off | Open the browser after starting |

## Focused defaults

The launcher configures Open WebUI so every conversation stays on Arka:

* **Single model.** `arka` is the only model. The Ollama API is off.
* **No Arena picker.** Arena evaluation models are turned off.
* **No chat Controls.** The chat Controls panel is hidden.
* **No follow-up suggestions.** Follow-up generation is off.
* **Web search on.** Web search is enabled with DuckDuckGo.

## Web search settings

Override the web search defaults with environment variables before you launch:

| Variable | Default | Purpose |
| - | - | - |
| `ENABLE_WEB_SEARCH` | `true` | Turn Open WebUI web search on or off |
| `WEB_SEARCH_ENGINE` | `duckduckgo` | Search engine Open WebUI uses |

```bash theme={null}
ENABLE_WEB_SEARCH=false arka frontend open-webui
```

## Chat behavior

Web chat tries a small local Ollama model first, then falls back to Gemini and Groq. See [Web chat model order](/concepts/llm#web-chat-model-order).

Short acknowledgments such as "thanks", "ok great", or "got it" get a brief welcome. Arka doesn't continue the previous build or send more code.


## Related topics

- [LLM orchestration with multi-provider failover](/concepts/llm.md)
- [Week of September 28, 2026](/changelog/2026-09-28.md)
- [Web dashboard](/guides/web-dashboard.md)
- [AI agent guide — use Arka over MCP](/guides/ai-agents.md)
- [Arka — AI terminal agent documentation](/index.md)


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.