Deploy and Host Open WebUI with Ollama on Railway

Open WebUI with Ollama is a self-hosted AI chat workspace that bundles Open WebUI and Ollama together in one deployment. It lets you run a private AI interface, download the models you need, and chat through a clean web UI without relying on a separate model server.

About Hosting Open WebUI with Ollama

Hosting Open WebUI with Ollama gives you an all-in-one AI workspace where the chat interface and local model runtime are bundled together. This template uses the Open WebUI Ollama image, which includes Ollama inside the same environment. After deployment, you can open Open WebUI, download supported Ollama models, and start chatting privately from your own hosted instance. Because this setup includes persistent storage mounted to Open WebUI's backend data directory, your Open WebUI data, conversations, and settings can remain available across redeploys when the volume is attached correctly.

Common Use Cases

• Run a private self-hosted AI chat interface with Ollama included
• Download and manage Ollama models directly after deployment
• Create a local-style AI workspace for research, writing, coding, and team workflows
• Keep Open WebUI chats, settings, and app data persistent with attached volume storage

Dependencies for Open WebUI with Ollama Hosting

• A Railway account for deploying and hosting the Open WebUI with Ollama service
• Railway volume storage for persistent Open WebUI backend data
• Enough CPU, memory, and storage for the Ollama models you plan to use

Deployment Dependencies

• Open WebUI: https://openwebui.com/
• Open WebUI Documentation: https://docs.openwebui.com/
• Ollama: https://ollama.com/
• Ollama Model Library: https://ollama.com/library
• Railway: https://railway.com/

Implementation Details

This template uses the Open WebUI image with Ollama bundled in:

:ollama

Unlike a standard Open WebUI-only deployment, this setup includes Ollama inside the same container environment. After deployment, open your Open WebUI instance and download the models you want to use.

You can manage or pull models from the Open WebUI admin interface:

Admin Panel → Settings → Connections → Ollama

This template includes persistent volume storage mounted to the Open WebUI backend data directory:

/app/backend/data

This keeps Open WebUI app data, conversations, settings, and related backend files available across redeploys. The volume for this template is mounted only to /app/backend/data.

Why Deploy Open WebUI with Ollama on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying Open WebUI with Ollama on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete self-hosted AI workspace with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, model runtimes, and more on Railway.