Power Up Your Open WebUI with Azure AI Speech: Quick STT & TTS Integration
Introduction Ever found yourself wishing your web interface could really talk and listen back to you? With a few clicks (and a bit of code), you can turn your plain Open WebUI into a full-on voice assistant. In this post, you’ll see how to spin up an Azure Speech resource, hook it into your frontend, and watch as user speech transforms into text and your app’s responses leap off the screen in a human-like voice. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a voice-enabled web UI that actually converses with users, opening the door to hands-free controls, better accessibility, and a genuinely richer user experience. Ready to make your web app speak? Let’s dive in. Why Azure AI Speech? We use Azure AI Speech service in Open Web UI to enable voice interactions directly within web applications. This allows users to: Speak commands or input instead of typing, making the interface more accessible and user-friendly. Hear responses or information read aloud, which improves usability for people with visual impairments or those who prefer audio. Provide a more natural and hands-free experience especially on devices like smartphones or tablets. In short, integrating Azure AI Speech service into Open Web UI helps make web apps smarter, more interactive, and easier to use by adding speech recognition and voice output features. If you haven’t hosted Open WebUI already, follow my other step-by-step guide to host Ollama WebUI on Azure. Proceed to the next step if you have Open WebUI deployed already. Learn More about OpenWeb UI here. Deploy Azure AI Speech service in Azure. Navigate to the Azure Portal and search for Azure AI Speech on the Azure portal search bar. Create a new Speech Service by filling up the fields in the resource creation page. Click on “Create” to finalize the setup. After the resource has been deployed, click on “View resource” button and you should be redirected to the Azure AI Speech service page. The page should display the API Keys and Endpoints for Azure AI Speech services, which you can use in Open Web UI. Settings things up in Open Web UI Speech to Text settings (STT) Head to the Open Web UI Admin page > Settings > Audio. Paste the API Key obtained from the Azure AI Speech service page into the API key field below. Unless you use different Azure Region, or want to change the default configurations for the STT settings, leave all settings to blank. Text to Speech settings (TTS) Now, let's proceed with configuring the TTS Settings on OpenWeb UI by toggling the TTS Engine to Azure AI Speech option. Again, paste the API Key obtained from Azure AI Speech service page and leave all settings to blank. You can change the TTS Voice from the dropdown selection in the TTS settings as depicted in the image below: Click Save to reflect the change. Expected Result Now, let’s test if everything works well. Open a new chat / temporary chat on Open Web UI and click on the Call / Record button. The STT Engine (Azure AI Speech) should identify your voice and provide a response based on the voice input. To test the TTS feature, click on the Read Aloud (Speaker Icon) under any response from Open Web UI. The TTS Engine should reflect Azure AI Speech service! Conclusion And that’s a wrap! You’ve just given your Open WebUI the gift of capturing user speech, turning it into text, and then talking right back with Azure’s neural voices. Along the way you saw how easy it is to spin up a Speech resource in the Azure portal, wire up real-time transcription in the browser, and pipe responses through the TTS engine. From here, it’s all about experimentation. Try swapping in different neural voices or dialing in new languages. Tweak how you start and stop listening, play with silence detection, or add custom pronunciation tweaks for those tricky product names. Before you know it, your interface will feel less like a web page and more like a conversation partner.Deploy Open Web UI on Azure VM via Docker: A Step-by-Step Guide with Custom Domain Setup.
Introductions Open Web UI (often referred to as "Ollama Web UI" in the context of LLM frameworks like Ollama) is an open-source, self-hostable interface designed to simplify interactions with large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4, Llama 3, Mistral, and others. It provides a user-friendly, browser-based environment for deploying, managing, and experimenting with AI models, making advanced language model capabilities accessible to developers, researchers, and enthusiasts without requiring deep technical expertise. This article will delve into the step-by-step configurations on hosting OpenWeb UI on Azure. Requirements: Azure Portal Account - For students you can claim $USD100 Azure Cloud credits from this URL. Azure Virtual Machine - with a Linux of any distributions installed. Domain Name and Domain Host Caddy Open WebUI Image Step One: Deploy a Linux – Ubuntu VM from Azure Portal Search and Click on “Virtual Machine” on the Azure portal search bar and create a new VM by clicking on the “+ Create” button > “Azure Virtual Machine”. Fill out the form and select any Linux Distribution image – In this demo, we will deploy Open WebUI on Ubuntu Pro 24.04. Click “Review + Create” > “Create” to create the Virtual Machine. Tips: If you plan to locally download and host open source AI models via Open on your VM, you could save time by increasing the size of the OS disk / attach a large disk to the VM. You may also need a higher performance VM specification since large resources are needed to run the Large Language Model (LLM) locally. Once the VM has been successfully created, click on the “Go to resource” button. You will be redirected to the VM’s overview page. Jot down the public IP Address and access the VM using the ssh credentials you have setup just now. Step Two: Deploy the Open WebUI on the VM via Docker Once you are logged into the VM via SSH, run the Docker Command below: docker run -d --name open-webui --network=host --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway -e PORT=8080 -v open-webui:/app/backend/data --restart always ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:dev This Docker command will download the Open WebUI Image into the VM and will listen for Open Web UI traffic on port 8080. Wait for a few minutes and the Web UI should be up and running. If you had setup an inbound Network Security Group on Azure to allow port 8080 on your VM from the public Internet, you can access them by typing into the browser: [PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS]:8080 Step Three: Setup custom domain using Caddy Now, we can setup a reverse proxy to map a custom domain to [PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS]:8080 using Caddy. The reason why Caddy is useful here is because they provide automated HTTPS solutions – you don’t have to worry about expiring SSL certificate anymore, and it’s free! You must download all Caddy’s dependencies and set up the requirements to install it using this command: sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list sudo apt update && sudo apt install caddy Once Caddy is installed, edit Caddy’s configuration file at: /etc/caddy/Caddyfile , delete everything else in the file and add the following lines: yourdomainname.com { reverse_proxy localhost:8080 } Restart Caddy using this command: sudo systemctl restart caddy Next, create an A record on your DNS Host and point them to the public IP of the server. Step Four: Update the Network Security Group (NSG) To allow public access into the VM via HTTPS, you need to ensure the NSG/Firewall of the VM allow for port 80 and 443. Let’s add these rules into Azure by heading to the VM resources page you created for Open WebUI. Under the “Networking” Section > “Network Settings” > “+ Create port rule” > “Inbound port rule” On the “Destination port ranges” field, type in 443 and Click “Add”. Repeat these steps with port 80. Additionally, to enhance security, you should avoid external users from directly interacting with Open Web UI’s port - port 8080. You should add an inbound deny rule to that port. With that, you should be able to access the Open Web UI from the domain name you setup earlier. Conclusion And just like that, you’ve turned a blank Azure VM into a sleek, secure home for your Open Web UI, no magic required! By combining Docker’s simplicity with Caddy’s “set it and forget it” HTTPS magic, you’ve not only made your app accessible via a custom domain but also locked down security by closing off risky ports and keeping traffic encrypted. Azure’s cloud muscle handles the heavy lifting, while you get to enjoy the perks of a pro setup without the headache. If you are interested in using AI models deployed on Azure AI Foundry on OpenWeb UI via API, kindly read my other article: Step-by-step: Integrate Ollama Web UI to use Azure Open AI API with LiteLLM ProxyConfigure Embedding Models on Azure AI Foundry with Open Web UI
Introduction Let’s take a closer look at an exciting development in the AI space. Embedding models are the key to transforming complex data into usable insights, driving innovations like smarter chatbots and tailored recommendations. With Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft’s powerful platform, you’ve got the tools to build and scale these models effortlessly. Add in Open Web UI, a intuitive interface for engaging with AI systems, and you’ve got a winning combo that’s hard to beat. In this article, we’ll explore how embedding models on Azure AI Foundry, paired with Open Web UI, are paving the way for accessible and impactful AI solutions for developers and businesses. Let’s dive in! To proceed with configuring the embedding model from Azure AI Foundry on Open Web UI, please firstly configure the requirements below. Requirements: Setup Azure AI Foundry Hub/Projects Deploy Open Web UI – refer to my previous article on how you can deploy Open Web UI on Azure VM. Optional: Deploy LiteLLM with Azure AI Foundry models to work on Open Web UI - refer to my previous article on how you can do this as well. Deploying Embedding Models on Azure AI Foundry Navigate to the Azure AI Foundry site and deploy an embedding model from the “Model + Endpoint” section. For the purpose of this demonstration, we will deploy the “text-embedding-3-large” model by OpenAI. You should be receiving a URL endpoint and API Key to the embedding model deployed just now. Take note of that credential because we will be using it in Open Web UI. Configuring the embedding models on Open Web UI Now head to the Open Web UI Admin Setting Page > Documents and Select Azure Open AI as the Embedding Model Engine. Copy and Paste the Base URL, API Key, the Embedding Model deployed on Azure AI Foundry and the API version (not the model version) into the fields below: Click “Save” to reflect the changes. Expected Output Now let us look into the scenario for when the embedding model configured on Open Web UI and when it is not. Without Embedding Models configured. With Azure Open AI Embedding models configured. Conclusion And there you have it! Embedding models on Azure AI Foundry, combined with the seamless interaction offered by Open Web UI, are truly revolutionizing how we approach AI solutions. This powerful duo not only simplifies the process of building and deploying intelligent systems but also makes cutting-edge technology more accessible to developers and businesses of all sizes. As we move forward, it’s clear that such integrations will continue to drive innovation, breaking down barriers and unlocking new possibilities in the AI landscape. So, whether you’re a seasoned developer or just stepping into this exciting field, now’s the time to explore what Azure AI Foundry and Open Web UI can do for you. Let’s keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible!
Question: How to allow multiple users on Azure VM
Some partners followed the below article and were able to resolve their issue: https://community.dynamics.com/365/b/dynamics365enterprisecloudfronts/posts/setup-simultaneous-remote-login-for-multiple-users Here are a few other responses from community influencers: Comment: This sounds like a scenario where you are hosting an application/service for end customers, e.g. a SaaS offering, but as rich client where RDP protocol is required. The solution is to enable Remote Desktop Services to allow multiple users working simultaneous on a VM. You could either build a RDS farm in Azure yourself, or you use Windows Virtual Desktop as Gateway/broker Service to publish the application, which I would recommend. You need to use WVD with Windows Server-based session hosts though, not WVD with Windows 10 Multi-Session - this is because of licensing reasons. Since you are providing a hosted service, the access of the end customers would need to be licensed via RDS Subscriber Access Licenses (RDS SALs) obtained via SPLA, for hosted scenarios like this there is no other option then to use SPLA licenses because usage of RDS role is not covered with the Windows VM license that Azure offers. Comment: Does not change that you need RDS and the licenses (RDS CALs - or RDS SALS via SPLA when it is about a hosted solution like described by the OP). Since this thread was revived via the new post, and since there were changes, some additional information: You can now also offer Windows Client OS (Windows 10/11 Multisession) in Azure Virtual Desktop as basis for your hosted, custom services/apps, not only Windows Server how I described. This is possible because there is a new licensing options - AVD remote app streaming: What is Azure Virtual Desktop remote app streaming? - Azure | Microsoft Docs
