This chapter is for contributors and maintainers.

Open WebUI Integration

Open WebUI provides the primary user interface for NeuralDrive. It is a feature-rich chat environment that communicates with the Ollama backend.

Installation and Environment

Open WebUI is installed into a Python virtual environment at /usr/lib/neuraldrive/webui/venv/. This isolation prevents dependency conflicts with the system Python or the System API.

The service is managed by neuraldrive-webui.service and runs as the neuraldrive-webui user (UID 902).

Configuration (webui.env)

Key configuration parameters are stored in /etc/neuraldrive/webui.env:

• OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434: The internal address of the Ollama service.
• DATA_DIR=/var/lib/neuraldrive/webui: Persistent location for the SQLite database and user uploads.
• ENABLE_SIGNUP=false: Disables public account creation for security.
• WEBUI_AUTH=true: Enforces login for all users.
• WEBUI_NAME=NeuralDrive: Customizes the branding of the interface.

Service Lifecycle

The WebUI service Wants=neuraldrive-ollama. This means systemd will attempt to start Ollama whenever the WebUI is started. However, the WebUI is capable of running even if Ollama is temporarily unavailable, showing a "Connection Error" in the settings.

Data Persistence

The /var/lib/neuraldrive/webui directory contains:

• webui.db: The SQLite database containing user accounts, chat history, and settings.
• uploads/: Documents uploaded for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation).
• cache/: Temporary files and model templates.

Customization

To modify the default behavior of Open WebUI on NeuralDrive:

1. Update the environment variables in config/includes.chroot/etc/neuraldrive/webui.env.
2. For UI changes, the CSS or frontend assets can be modified in the source before building.

Note: Major updates to Open WebUI often require database migrations. These are handled automatically by the application on startup, but it is recommended to back up the webui.db file before performing a system upgrade.