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Self-host Open Terminal

v0.14.5

Remote shell API that gives AI agents a place to run code

BetaOpen SourceMIT
docker run -d --name open-terminal --restart unless-stopped -p 8000:8000 -v open-terminal:/home/user -e OPEN_TERMINAL_API_KEY=your-secret-key ghcr.io/open-webui/open-terminal
Updated9 hours ago
LanguagePython
Setup difficultyEasy
Stars
3 443
Port
8000 (HTTP API server)
Docker
ghcr.io/open-webui/open-terminal

What is Open Terminal?

Open Terminal is a lightweight, open-source terminal server that exposes a real shell over a REST API, aimed at AI agents and automation tools that need somewhere to actually run code. It can execute commands, manage and search files, install packages, and start servers. The default Docker image is a sandboxed environment preloaded with Python, Node.js, git, build tools, ffmpeg and data-science libraries, while a plain Python package lets commands run directly on the host where that is intentional. Operators secure it with an API key (auto-generated if unset), extend the image at startup through package environment variables, optionally mount the Docker socket, use an egress firewall, or enable a built-in multi-user mode that gives each user their own Linux account inside one shared container — which the project itself warns is not a real security boundary. Self-hosting is a single docker run listening on port 8000, with pip or uvx as alternatives, and interactive API docs are served at /docs. It is MIT-licensed, maintained by the Open WebUI organisation, and connects to Open WebUI's integration settings; the separate Terminals orchestrator that provisions one container per user is licensed commercially by that organisation.

Should you self-host Open Terminal?

Open Terminal scores 60/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #51 of 209 in AI Agents. It has 3 443 GitHub stars.

It shipped 10 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.14.5, came out on 25 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 5 days.

Setup is easy: most people get it running in one sitting. An official Docker image is available. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Python.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Orca (91/100, 108 642 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Open Terminal vs Orca side by side.

Features

  • API Key Authentication
  • Bare-metal execution
  • Configuration via TOML, env vars, and CLI flags
  • Docker Socket AccessGives effectively root-level control of the host Docker daemon.
  • Egress firewallNot available in the openshift variant.
  • File Management
  • Interactive API Documentation
  • Multi-User ModeProject states it is not a security boundary and not for production multi-user deployments.
  • Office document previewsOnly the full 'latest' image bundles LibreOffice.
  • Remote shell over REST API
  • Runtime package installationNot supported in slim/alpine/openshift images.
  • Sandboxed Docker execution

Open Terminal README

How to install Open Terminal

Install Open Terminal with Docker

Environment variables
OPEN_TERMINAL_API_KEY, OPEN_TERMINAL_MULTI_USER, OPEN_TERMINAL_PACKAGES, OPEN_TERMINAL_PIP_PACKAGES, OPEN_TERMINAL_NPM_PACKAGES, OPEN_TERMINAL_FILE_BROWSER_ROOT
docker run -d --name open-terminal --restart unless-stopped -p 8000:8000 -v open-terminal:/home/user -e OPEN_TERMINAL_API_KEY=your-secret-key ghcr.io/open-webui/open-terminal

Also published as slim, alpine and openshift tag variants.

How to configure Open Terminal

  • OPEN_TERMINAL_NPM_PACKAGESSpace-separated list of npm packages to install globally at startup

    Space-separated list of npm packages to install globally at startup

  • OPEN_TERMINAL_PACKAGESSpace-separated list of apt packages to install at startup

    Space-separated list of apt packages to install at startup

  • OPEN_TERMINAL_PIP_PACKAGESSpace-separated list of pip packages to install at startup

    Space-separated list of pip packages to install at startup

Open Terminal releases & version history

More in Terminal

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