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Supercharge Your Self-Hosted AI: OpenWebUI + h2oGPTe

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By Ishan Shrivastava | minute read | September 25, 2025

Developers want more than a demo. You want control, flexibility, and power. That’s exactly what you get when you bring OpenWebUI — the open-source, customizable AI interface — together with h2oGPTe, H2O.ai’s enterprise-grade AI engine for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic reasoning.

This isn’t just an integration. It’s a way to own your GenAI workflows end-to-end: from how users interact with the interface to how intelligence is retrieved, synthesized, and secured behind the scenes.

OpenWebUI & h2oGPTe OpenWebUI & h2oGPTe

Why This Matters for Developers

 

  1. Unlimited UI Freedom
    Theme it, rebrand it, hack it. With OpenWebUI’s plugin architecture, you can build your own visualization layers, interactive tools, and role-specific dashboards.

  2. Enterprise-Grade Backend
    Forget toy demos. h2oGPTe delivers advanced vector search, document ingestion pipelines, and secure governance out of the box — all exposed through APIs you already know (Python, REST, OpenAI-compatible).

  3. Real-Time Feedback Loops
    Stream responses, manage persistent sessions, and drop in custom callbacks for instant interactivity.

  4. Built for Extension
    From white-labeling to department-specific workflows, you’re not locked in. Add custom functionality without touching core code.

 

How It Works

The integration slots right into your workflow with four simple building blocks:

  1. Connection Management — Persistent sessions via the h2oGPTe Python client.
  2. Document Processing — Upload, ingest, monitor, and manage collections in a four-phase pipeline.
  3. Query Handling — Translate chat requests into tuned h2oGPTe queries.
  4. Streaming Results — Advanced callbacks let you update users in real time.

 

Ready to try it?

   WATCH IT IN ACTION

👉  Explore the integration code & starter repo https://github.com/h2oai/openwebui-h2oGPTe

👉  Or better yet, drop us a note and start customizing your own self-hosted GenAI stack today.

 

Bottom Line

If you’re building developer-first AI applications, this combo gives you:

  • OpenWebUI for complete UI control
  • h2oGPTe for enterprise-grade RAG and agentic intelligence
  • Freedom to design AI the way you want

Don’t just consume GenAI — build it your way.

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Ishan Shrivastava, Manager - Data Science, Field Technology

Ishan is a Manager – Data Science on H2O.ai’s Field Technology team, bringing 9+ years of experience delivering AI solutions across retail, pharma, and CPG industry with impact across supply chain, operations & commercial domain. He supports pre-sales, customer success, and drive innovation for global customers, partnering with Field Technology to translate complex business problems into production-grade AI applications. He holds a B.Tech from the National Institute of Technology, Bhopal and his linked profile can be found here

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Kalana Weerakoon, Machine Learning Engineer , Field Technology

Kalana Weerakoon is a Machine Learning Engineer on H2O.ai’s Field Technology team. He holds a B.Sc. in Information Technology and Management from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Kalana specializes in designing and deploying innovative, production-grade AI applications for global customers, leveraging enterprise H2OGPTe to solve complex business challenges. His linkedin profile can be found here

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Betty Candel, VP GTM

Betty is the vice president of marketing at H2O.ai. She brings more than 20 years of experience leading GTM and product marketing at companies including Bolt Payments, DigitalOcean and Gemalto.

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Shivam Bansal, Director, Field Technology

Shivam is the 3x Kaggle Grandmaster, 5 times winner of Kaggle’s Analytics / Data Science for Good Competition, and the winner of several other offline and online competitions. He holds a master's degree from the National University of Singapore and was a Valedictorian. He has extensive cross-industry and hands-on experience in building data science products and applications. He brings a strong blend of technical and business skills with a practical and solution-driven approach. He supports various functions within the company which include - engineering, pre-sales, and customer success. His LinkedIn profile can be found here.