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LobeChat is a polished, open-source chat UI you can run in the browser, as a desktop app, or self-hosted. It reaches OpenAI-compatible endpoints through its OpenAI provider — set the API Proxy Address to https://api.tokios.com/v1 with your sk-tok-… key, and LobeChat chats with a model on your own hardware instead of the default hosted API.

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Prerequisites

Connector paired

Install and pair tokios-connector next to the model you want LobeChat to reach.

Model registered

Register a deployment (public name) for that model.

API key created

Create an sk-tok-… key, optionally scoped to that deployment.

Supported backends

Confirm your local backend (Ollama, llama.cpp, vLLM, LM Studio) is running.

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Option A — configure it in the app

1

Open the OpenAI provider settings

In LobeChat, go to Settings → Language Model → OpenAI. Enable the provider.
2

Set the API key and proxy address

Enter your key and point the proxy address at Tokios:
The API Proxy Address is LobeChat’s base-URL override — include /v1.
3

Add your deployment as a model

Add a model using the public deployment name you registered in the Models tab — for example, gemma-tunnel. This is the value LobeChat sends in the model field, not your backend’s local model id.

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Option B — configure it with environment variables

If you self-host LobeChat (for example with Docker), set these environment variables instead of using the in-app fields:
.env
OPENAI_PROXY_URL overrides the base URL (include /v1), and OPENAI_MODEL_LIST=+gemma-tunnel adds your deployment to the model picker. The exact variable names can shift between LobeChat releases — confirm them against the self-hosting model-provider docs for your version.
Never commit a real sk-tok-… key into version control or a shared compose file. Provide it through the environment or the in-app field instead.

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Hosted UI, home model

Run LobeChat wherever it’s convenient — a browser, a VPS, or a container — and it still reaches a model on your home machine. The connector next to that model dials outward to Tokios; LobeChat calls https://api.tokios.com/v1 with your key. You don’t bind your backend to 0.0.0.0, open an inbound port, or set up a VPN.

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Troubleshooting

The API key LobeChat sent is missing, malformed, or has been revoked. Confirm the key (in-app or in OPENAI_API_KEY) is the full sk-tok-… value with no extra whitespace, and check its status on the Keys tab.
The model value doesn’t match a registered deployment, or the proxy address is missing /v1. Confirm the model name matches the public name on the Models tab, and that the address is https://api.tokios.com/v1.
The connector for that deployment is offline or at its concurrency cap. Check the Connectors tab — the connector needs to show as Online, and the machine running it needs to still be up and reachable.

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Next steps

Compatible clients

See base URL and key setup for other OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible clients.

API keys

Create separate scoped keys for teammates using the same LobeChat instance.