Use an Installed Coding Agent as a Chat Model
If you already pay for a coding agent and it is signed in on the machine running Libre WebUI, you can talk to it from a normal chat instead of adding a separate API key. Libre WebUI detects the agent's command-line interface and offers it in the model selector like any other model.
What gets detected
On each request for the model list, Libre WebUI looks on the server's PATH for
these commands:
| Model | Command | Provided by |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | claude | Anthropic |
| Codex | codex | OpenAI |
Anything found appears under an Agents group in the model selector. Nothing is installed for you, and no configuration file is required — if the command runs in your server's shell, it shows up.
Using it
- Sign in as an administrator.
- Start a chat and open the model selector.
- Pick an entry under Agents.
- Send messages as usual. Replies stream back token by token.
The conversation is stored like any other chat, so you can leave and come back to it, rename it, and search it from the command palette. Each turn sends a transcript of the recent conversation to the agent and streams its answer back.
Who can use it, and what it can reach
This feature is administrator-only, and the reason matters. The agent runs as the same operating-system user as the Libre WebUI backend, on the host — not inside a Work container. It therefore inherits that user's agent credentials and whatever access those agents normally have, including the ability to read files and run commands on the server if it decides to.
Treat enabling this as equivalent to granting the agent shell access to the machine. If that is not what you want on a shared or public deployment, turn it off:
AGENT_CLI_MODELS_ENABLED=false
For a model that can act on files but stays inside a sandbox, use Work instead: it runs tool-capable models in a locked-down container with an isolated workspace.
Configuration
| Variable | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
AGENT_CLI_MODELS_ENABLED | true | Set to false to hide agent CLIs from the model list |
AGENT_CLI_TIMEOUT_MS | 600000 | How long a single agent turn may run before it is killed |
Troubleshooting
No Agents group appears. Confirm you are signed in as an administrator, then
check that the command is on the PATH of the process running the backend — not
just your interactive shell. A service manager, Docker container, or desktop
launcher often starts with a much smaller PATH than a login terminal.
The reply fails immediately. Run the same command by hand as the server user
(claude -p "hello" or codex exec "hello"). Most failures are the agent asking
for a login that has expired, or a rate limit on the underlying subscription.
Replies stop partway. A long turn may have hit AGENT_CLI_TIMEOUT_MS. Raise
it, or break the request into smaller steps.