Troubleshooting¶
Fixes for the problems you are most likely to hit with Open WebUI. Each entry gives the symptom, the usual cause, and what to do.
The browser cannot reach http://127.0.0.1:8080¶
Cause: the port-forwarding session is not running, or another program on your computer already uses local port 8080.
Fix: start the session again, as in
Getting started, and
keep it open. If port 8080 is busy on your computer, change
localPortNumber to a free port, for example 18080, and browse to that
port instead.
Nothing answers on port 8080 on the instance¶
Cause: first boot has not finished, Docker is not running, or Open WebUI is still starting. The first start can take a little while.
Fix: check the services and their logs:
systemctl status sushi-open-webui-firstboot docker open-webui --no-pager
sudo journalctl -b -u sushi-open-webui-firstboot -u open-webui --no-pager
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/ready
open-webui.service fails right after I edited webui.env¶
Cause: the start script refuses to run unless /etc/open-webui/webui.env
is non-empty, owned by root:root and mode 0600. Some editors and copy
commands change the owner or mode.
Fix: restore the owner and mode, then restart:
sudo chown root:root /etc/open-webui/webui.env
sudo chmod 0600 /etc/open-webui/webui.env
sudo systemctl restart open-webui
Everyone was signed out¶
Cause: WEBUI_SECRET_KEY in /etc/open-webui/webui.env changed, for
example because the file was replaced or emptied. If the file is empty, first
boot writes a new secret on the next boot.
Fix: restore the file from your backup and restart the service. Users can also sign in again.
The model list is empty or chats fail¶
Cause: no OpenAI-compatible connection is configured, the base URL or key is wrong, or the instance cannot reach the endpoint.
Fix: check the connection in the Admin Panel, then allow outbound HTTPS from the instance to your endpoint. See Model connections.
Open WebUI fails to start after I restored a backup¶
Cause: the restored /var/lib/open-webui has the wrong owner. The
container runs as UID and GID 10001.
Fix: with the service stopped, set the owner and mode, then start it:
sudo systemctl stop open-webui
sudo chown -R 10001:10001 /var/lib/open-webui
sudo chmod 0700 /var/lib/open-webui
sudo systemctl start open-webui
Last updated October 13, 2026 · Suggest an improvement