Open WebUI

See Open WebUI HTTP requests, database and cache calls, metrics, and logs in Logfire. A trace is the full journey of one request, made of one or more spans. A span is one unit of work: a single operation, with a name, a start, and a duration. A metric is a number tracked over time, like requests per second or CPU load. A log is a timestamped record of a single event.

Open WebUI sends this data using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP), the standard wire format Logfire uses to receive telemetry. Its documented authentication settings support Basic authentication rather than Logfire’s write-token header, so this setup uses an OpenTelemetry Collector to add that header.

The OpenTelemetry Collector is a separate program that sits between Open WebUI and Logfire, gathering telemetry and forwarding it. This route requires access to Open WebUI’s runtime configuration. The official Docker images include the OpenTelemetry dependencies. A source or pip installation may need the optional OpenTelemetry packages described in the vendor documentation.

Review request, database, and log data

Open WebUI traces can contain request URLs, database statements, and Redis commands. Its logs can contain application data. The Logfire SDK’s scrubbing feature does not process telemetry sent through this route. Use Collector scrubbing when you need to remove sensitive values before they reach Logfire.

Configure Open WebUI

Set these values using the address of a Collector that Open WebUI can reach:

ENABLE_OTEL=true
ENABLE_OTEL_TRACES=true
ENABLE_OTEL_METRICS=true
ENABLE_OTEL_LOGS=true
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4317
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4317
OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4317
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_INSECURE=true
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=open-webui
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORT_INTERVAL_MILLIS=60000

Replace otel-collector if the Collector has a different hostname. Restart Open WebUI after applying the environment.

Configure the Collector

Create a project write token, expose the Collector’s OTLP receiver using Open WebUI’s default gRPC transport, and forward all three signals to Logfire over OTLP using HTTP:

otel-collector-config.yaml

receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: 0.0.0.0:4317

processors:
  batch: {}

exporters:
  otlphttp/logfire:
    endpoint: https://logfire-us.pydantic.dev
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer ${env:LOGFIRE_TOKEN}"

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/logfire]
    metrics:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/logfire]
    logs:
      receivers: [otlp]
      processors: [batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/logfire]

Set LOGFIRE_TOKEN in the Collector environment. For an EU project, change the Logfire endpoint to https://logfire-eu.pydantic.dev. Keep port 4317 private to the network shared by Open WebUI and the Collector.

Verify

Send a chat message, then open the Live view and filter for service_name = 'open-webui'. Metrics can take a minute or two to appear in Metrics.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
Open WebUI reports a connection error	Confirm it can resolve otel-collector and reach the Collector’s gRPC port 4317.
Traces arrive but metrics or logs do not	Confirm each signal has its own endpoint variable and a matching Collector pipeline.
Collector cannot send to Logfire	Check LOGFIRE_TOKEN, the regional URL, and the Collector’s outbound network access.
A source installation cannot start telemetry	Install the OpenTelemetry dependencies listed in Open WebUI’s monitoring documentation.

See Open WebUI OpenTelemetry monitoring for its signal coverage, dependencies, and environment variables.