What It Is
Open WebUI v0.12.0, a Docker container running on .223 at my home, providing a ChatGPT-style web interface: multiple sessions, long conversations, and file uploads are all supported. It does not include models itself; the models come from the API I configured—currently the official DeepSeek API, with two models: deepseek-flash and deepseek-v4-pro.
Why I Built It Myself
A third-party client adds an extra hop: "me → its servers → API," and long conversations can easily get stuck due to rate limiting. After self-hosting, it is a direct connection: "me → home .223 → API." Streaming rendering happens locally, and conversation history is stored on my own machine, so long conversations will not get stuck because of someone else's server-side rate limiting. This is the most practical value of this project.
Current Status
The public endpoint is https://chat.xiejun-server.top/, using a Let's Encrypt certificate with automatic renewal, accessible on both phone and computer; the LAN address http://192.168.50.223:3080/ works the same way. I use a dedicated subdomain instead of a subdirectory because its frontend assets all use absolute paths, and subdirectory deployment is not officially supported. "Add to Home Screen" on a phone gives a PWA, close to a native app experience. Registration is closed; there are only two accounts, mine and a family member's, each using their own Key, and it is running daily.