Open WebUI#

Complete the base setup first

See Base setup before continuing. You will need your instance base URL and an Intelligence Center API Token.

Requirements

  • Open WebUI v0.6.31 or later — native MCP support was added in this release.

  • Administrator access — MCP servers can only be added by administrators, under Admin Settings → External Tools. Regular users cannot register their own.

To give non-admins access to this server, an admin adds it once and scopes it to the right users or groups with Access Control.

Configure the EIQ MCP server in Open WebUI#

Steps#

  1. Open Admin Settings → External Tools.

  2. Click + (Add Server).

  3. Set Type to MCP (Streamable HTTP).

  4. Fill in the connection details (see the table below).

  5. Click Save. If prompted, restart Open WebUI.

Connection details#

Field

Value

Notes

Type

MCP (Streamable HTTP)

Must be MCP — not OpenAPI. Choosing OpenAPI causes an infinite loading screen.

Server URL

<Instance-base-url>/mcp/public/

Must match exactly.

Auth

Bearer

Select Bearer and populate the Key field. Leaving the key empty sends an empty Authorization header, which the server rejects.

Key

Your API token

The API Token generated from your Intelligence Center.

Security note

An MCP server runs inside Open WebUI’s trust boundary with the connecting user’s full scope, which is why registering one is reserved for administrators. Keep these principles in mind:

  • Add only servers you trust and control, and use Access Control to scope the server to the users or groups who actually need it.

  • Always use an HTTPS instance URL and treat the API token as a secret — rotate it regularly.

  • Browser-based, multi-user deployments increase the attack surface. Review your authentication, proxy, and rate-limiting policies before exposing MCP externally.

Verify the connection#

  1. Open a chat.

  2. Click + → Integrations → Tools and enable the Intelligence Center tool.

  3. Type create entity and provide a title, type, and description — this exercises the Create entity tool.

  4. Confirm the entity appears in the Intelligence Center.

Other MCP tools can be used the same way from the chat.

Troubleshooting#

Issue

Resolution

Infinite loading screen after adding the tool

The connection Type was set to OpenAPI instead of MCP. In Admin Settings → External Tools, disable or delete the connection, refresh the page, and re-add it with Type set to MCP (Streamable HTTP).

“Failed to connect to MCP server”

Confirm the Auth type is Bearer and the Key field is populated — Bearer with an empty key sends Authorization: Bearer and is rejected. Verify the Server URL matches exactly: <Instance-base-url>/mcp/public/.

Connection errors with an empty filter

If the Function Name Filter List is empty and the connection errors, add a single comma (,) to that field to force a valid empty filter.

Tools not appearing

Ensure the server is enabled and scoped to your user/group via Access Control, and that you enabled the tool in the chat via + → Integrations → Tools.

More help

See the Open WebUI MCP documentation for full configuration, authentication modes, and troubleshooting.