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In Open WebUI, open Admin Settings → Connections → OpenAI, click Add Connection, and set the URL to https://api.tokios.com/v1 with your sk-tok-… key as the API key. Open WebUI calls /v1/models to verify the connection and populate its model dropdown — Tokios implements that endpoint, so verification succeeds and your registered deployments show up right away.

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Prerequisites

Before you add the connection, have these ready:

Connector paired

Install and pair tokios-connector next to your model.

Model registered

Register a deployment (public name) for the model you want Open WebUI to see.

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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Add Tokios as an OpenAI connection

1

Open Connections settings

In Open WebUI, go to Admin Settings → Connections. The exact menu path and labels may differ slightly by Open WebUI version — confirm against the version you’re running.
2

Add an OpenAI connection

Under the OpenAI section, click Add Connection (sometimes shown as a + button).
3

Enter the Tokios URL and key

Set the connection fields:
  • URL: https://api.tokios.com/v1
  • Key: sk-tok-YOUR_KEY
Save the connection.
Never paste a real key into a shared or public Open WebUI instance’s config where other admins or exported settings could expose it. Treat the sk-tok-… key like any other credential.

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Your models appear automatically

Open WebUI calls GET /v1/models against the URL you entered to verify the connection and to populate the model picker. Tokios implements /v1/models, returning the deployments your key is scoped to — so the connection verifies successfully and your deployment names (for example, gemma-tunnel) appear in Open WebUI’s model dropdown without any manual entry. This is worth calling out because it’s not universal: some custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints skip /v1/models entirely, which makes Open WebUI’s connection check fail or leaves the model list empty even though chat completions would otherwise work. Tokios avoids that failure mode by implementing /v1/models as a first-class part of its API surface. Pick the deployment you want from the dropdown and start chatting — every request Open WebUI sends goes to https://api.tokios.com/v1/chat/completions with your key as the Bearer token, over the tunnel, to your local backend.

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Hosted UI, home model

The common shape this solves: you run Open WebUI on a VPS, a container host, or any machine that isn’t the one running your model, and you want it to reach the model without exposing that model’s port to the internet. Because the Tokios connector only dials outward from the machine running your model, you don’t need to:
  • Bind your backend to 0.0.0.0 (for example OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0) just so a remote Open WebUI can reach it.
  • Juggle host.docker.internal or container networking tricks to bridge a containerized Open WebUI to a model on the host or on another box.
  • Open an inbound port or set up a VPN between the two machines.
Open WebUI (wherever it’s hosted) talks to https://api.tokios.com/v1, authenticated with your sk-tok-… key. Tokios routes the request over the tunnel to the connector running next to your model, which stays on localhost the whole time.

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Troubleshooting

Check the URL includes /v1 (https://api.tokios.com/v1, not the bare domain) and that the key starts with sk-tok-. A 401 means the key is missing or invalid; a 403 means the key isn’t scoped to the model you’re requesting. See API endpoints for the full error list.
Make sure you’ve registered at least one deployment on the Models tab, and that your key’s model-pattern scope (set on the Keys tab) includes it.
Confirm the connector is online on the Connectors tab. A 503 response means the connector is offline or over its concurrency cap.

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Now put it to work everywhere else

Once Open WebUI is talking to your model through Tokios, the same deployment and key work from any other OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible client — no extra setup per client.

Compatible clients

See base URL and key settings for other clients.

API keys

Create separate scoped keys for teammates using the same Open WebUI instance.