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Release Mon, Jun 1, 2026 6 min read

Open WebUI 0.9.6

Original release notes

Added

  • Official knowledge base sync tool. A new companion tool from Open WebUI, oikb, keeps a knowledge base in sync with a local directory, GitHub repo, S3 bucket, Confluence space, or any of more than 40 other sources, uploading only new and changed files using the incremental sync support added in this release. oikb
  • Smart directory sync for knowledge bases. Local directories can now be synced into a knowledge base in one action: file checksums are compared against what's already stored, and only added or modified files are uploaded while removed files and orphaned subdirectories are cleaned up, with the directory structure mirrored automatically and per-file progress shown throughout. #19190, #19394, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit
  • Knowledge base folders. Files inside a knowledge base can now be organized into nested folders, with breadcrumb navigation that makes it much easier to manage and find content in large collections. Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit
  • Filesystem tool for knowledge bases. A new built-in tool, enabled via the "ENABLE_KB_EXEC" environment variable, lets AI models browse and search knowledge base contents using familiar filesystem commands such as 'ls', 'cat', 'grep', 'find', 'head', 'tail', and 'sed', including pipes between them. Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit
  • File renaming in knowledge bases. Files inside a knowledge base can now be renamed directly from the workspace, with the new name reflected wherever the file is referenced. Commit
  • Emoji picker in message input. A new emoji button in the rich text formatting toolbar lets you browse and insert emojis directly into your messages. #24704
  • Per-chat skills toggle. Skills can now be turned on or off for a conversation directly from the chat Integrations menu, the same way tools and capabilities already work, instead of only through the model preset. #25036, #25037
  • Access preview for users and groups. Administrators can now preview exactly which models, knowledge bases, and tools a given user or group can access, making it easier to audit and verify permission setups. Commit
  • Configurable knowledge base file page size. Administrators can now request a larger page size when listing a knowledge base's files through the API, reducing the number of requests needed to retrieve large collections instead of paging through fixed increments of 30. #25148, Commit
  • Persistent processing indicator for knowledge files. Files still being processed in a knowledge base now keep showing a processing indicator across page reloads, so you can tell what's still ingesting after navigating away and back. #25031, Commit
  • MinerU file type configuration. Administrators can now configure which file types are processed by the MinerU document loader, via the new "MINERU_FILE_EXTENSIONS" setting, extending it beyond PDF to formats like DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX. Commit
  • Legacy Word document support. Older ".doc" Word files can now have their text extracted by the default document extraction engine, in addition to the modern ".docx" format. Commit
  • Create subfolders from the folder header. Chat folders can now have subfolders created directly from the folder header in the chat view, not just from the sidebar. Commit
  • Faster initial page loads. The configuration endpoint that loads on every page visit no longer runs an unnecessary user-count query, making the initial application load lighter on the database, especially on instances with many users. Commit
  • Faster tool-enabled chat completions. Chat completions that use multiple tools now start faster because the tools they reference are fetched from the database in a single batch query instead of one query per tool. #24808, Commit
  • More responsive web search under load. Web search through SearXNG, Google PSE, Brave, Serper, and Serpstack now uses non-blocking network calls, so the server stays responsive to other users while a search is in flight, and concurrent multi-query searches complete faster. Commit
  • Lighter Ollama backend connections. Requests to Ollama backends now reuse a shared connection pool instead of opening a fresh session each time, reducing TCP and TLS handshake overhead for installs that poll Ollama frequently or have multiple backends configured. Commit
  • Fewer redundant model-list writes. On multi-instance deployments backed by Redis, the model list is no longer rewritten when it hasn't changed, cutting a major source of redundant writes. #25469, #25474, Commit
  • Faster websocket disconnect cleanup. Disconnecting from a collaborative session no longer triggers a scan across the entire Redis keyspace, using a per-session index instead, which keeps disconnects cheap on large deployments. #25466, Commit
  • Frontmatter auto-fill for tools, functions, and skills. Opening a tool, function, or skill editor now auto-fills the name, id, and description fields from the file's frontmatter, saving you from re-entering metadata already declared in the source. #24649, Commit
  • More user placeholders in custom headers. Custom-header templates for direct connections and tool servers now support "{{USER_EMAIL}}" and "{{USER_ROLE}}" alongside the existing user and session placeholders. Commit
  • Configurable MCP connection timeout. The timeout for the initial handshake with an MCP tool server is now configurable via the new "MCP_INITIALIZE_TIMEOUT" setting, so servers that are slow to start or expose many tools can finish connecting instead of timing out. #25011, Commit
  • Profile image size limit. Administrators can now cap the size of inline profile images via the new "PROFILE_IMAGE_MAX_DATA_URI_SIZE" setting, bounding how much database and cache space inline avatars and model icons can consume. #25468, #25476
  • Wildcard OAuth role mapping. Administrators can now set "\*" in the allowed OAuth roles to grant the user role to any authenticated OAuth user, instead of having to enumerate every accepted role. #25062, Commit
  • Paginated feedback history. The feedback and evaluation history list is now paginated, keeping it responsive for instances that have accumulated large numbers of feedback entries. Commit
  • Bulk enable or disable automations. Automations can now be enabled or disabled in bulk from an actions menu on the automations page, instead of toggling each one individually. Commit
  • Optional auto-redirect to single sign-on. Administrators can now enable "OAUTH_AUTO_REDIRECT" so that, on deployments with a single sign-on provider and no other login methods, users are sent straight to the provider instead of seeing a login page first. #25067, Commit
  • Azure AI Foundry v1 with Entra ID. Open WebUI now supports Azure AI Foundry's OpenAI v1 endpoint together with Microsoft Entra ID authentication, so these connections work without manual workarounds. #24761, #24985, Commit
  • Linkup web search provider. Administrators can now select Linkup as the web search provider from the admin settings, with options to configure the API key and search depth. #24752, Commit
  • Valkey vector database support. Valkey can now be used as the vector database backend, configurable through new "VALKEY_URL" and related settings including index type, distance metric, and HNSW tuning. #24769, Commit
  • General improvements. Various improvements were implemented across the application to enhance performance, stability, and security.
  • Translation updates. Translations for Spanish (Spain), Swedish, German, Korean, Catalan, Russian, Irish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Finnish, Polish, Turkish, and Malay were enhanced and expanded.

Fixed

  • Security Advisory: This release includes security and access-control fixes. We recommend updating production deployments at your earliest convenience. Not all security fixes in this version may be enumerated in the fixed section - some may be withheld for a short time to give administrators time to upgrade. Advisories
  • Tool server permission enforcement. The per-user permission for inline tool servers is now enforced on chat-completion requests, so users without that permission can no longer bypass the admin setting by supplying tool servers directly in their requests. Commit
  • Knowledge base access check in search tool. The built-in knowledge search tool now verifies that the caller can access a knowledge base before searching it by id, preventing users from reading the contents of knowledge bases they have not been granted access to. #25113