> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.llmrouter.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Open WebUI

> Configure your self-hosted Open WebUI instance to route through LLM Router for unified model access, aggressive context compression, and centralized cost tracking.

***

> ## Documentation Index
>
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: [https://docs.llmrouter.app/llms.txt](https://docs.llmrouter.app/llms.txt)
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Open WebUI & LLM Router

[Open WebUI](https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui) is an incredibly popular, extensible, and user-friendly self-hosted web interface for interacting with Large Language Models.

Because web-based chat interfaces encourage long, meandering conversations, they quickly become expensive as token usage balloons. By connecting Open WebUI to **LLM Router**, you automatically apply **Chat History Optimization** to your long threads, dropping irrelevant old messages and saving you massive amounts of input tokens.

***

## Step 1: Create an LLM Router API Key

Before configuring Open WebUI, you need an API key from LLM Router:

1. Log into the [LLM Router Dashboard](https://llmrouter.app/dashboard).
2. Navigate to the **API Keys** section.
3. Generate a new key and copy it (e.g., `sk-router-...`).

## Step 2: Configure LLM Router in Open WebUI

Open WebUI natively supports adding multiple OpenAI-compatible API endpoints. We will add LLM Router as a new connection.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Access Admin Settings">
    Log into your Open WebUI instance as an administrator. Click on your **Profile Icon** in the bottom left corner, then navigate to **Admin Settings**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Navigate to Connections">
    In the Admin Settings menu, click on the **Connections** tab. This is where
    you configure external API providers.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add LLM Router Connection">
    Under the **OpenAI API** section, click the **+** (Add Connection) button and
    enter the following details: \* **Base URL:** Enter
    `https://api.llmrouter.app/v1` \* **API Key:** Paste your `sk-router-...` key
    here.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify Connection">
    Click the **Verify** button next to your new connection. If successful, Open WebUI will fetch the list of all available models supported by LLM Router.

    Click **Save** to apply the configuration.
  </Step>
</Steps>