How to Set Up a Local AI Assistant That Works Offline

TL;DR This guide walks you through deploying a fully offline AI assistant using Ollama and Open WebUI on a Linux system. You’ll run models like Llama 3.1, Mistral, or Qwen locally without internet connectivity or cloud dependencies. What you’ll accomplish: Install Ollama as a systemd service, download AI models for offline use, deploy Open WebUI as your chat interface, and configure everything to work without external network access. The entire stack runs on your hardware—a laptop with 16GB RAM handles 7B models, while 32GB+ systems can run 13B or larger models. ...

February 21, 2026 · 7 min · Local AI Ops

Self-Hosting Open WebUI with Docker: Installation and Configuration

TL;DR Open WebUI is a self-hosted web interface for running local LLMs through Ollama, providing a ChatGPT-like experience without cloud dependencies. This guide walks you through Docker-based deployment, configuration, and integration with local models. What you’ll accomplish: Deploy Open WebUI in under 10 minutes using Docker Compose, connect it to Ollama for model inference, configure authentication, and set up persistent storage for chat history and model configurations. ...

February 21, 2026 · 7 min · Local AI Ops

Open WebUI vs Ollama Web UI: Which Interface is Right for You

TL;DR Open WebUI (formerly Ollama WebUI) is the actively maintained, feature-rich choice for most users, while Ollama Web UI refers to the deprecated original project that’s no longer developed. Open WebUI offers a ChatGPT-like interface with multi-user support, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for document chat, model management, conversation history, and plugin architecture. It runs as a Docker container or Python application, connecting to your local Ollama instance on port 11434. Perfect for teams, homelab setups, or anyone wanting a polished UI with authentication and persistent storage. ...

February 21, 2026 · 8 min · Local AI Ops