Hey community! I’ve been using Open WebUI every single day for the last six months. It’s basically the home screen of my brain now. At first I was happy just to have a pretty chat window instead of the ugly terminal, but then I started digging into the little features and… wow. My daily output literally went through the roof.
Here are the five things that changed everything for me. If you only try one, you’ll still thank me later.
1. Presets Are Pure Magic (I Have 9 of Them Now)
The first time I discovered presets, I felt like I cheated at life. A preset is basically a saved personality + settings combo. I click one button and the entire AI changes how it talks to me.
Here’s what mine look like:
- “Code Bro” → super direct, uses bullet points, never explains basic stuff, writes perfect code with comments
- “Gentle Writer” → warm, encouraging, helps me when I’m stuck with blog posts or emails
- “Angry Lawyer” → picky, finds every hole in my contracts or arguments
- “5-Year-Old Explainer” → breaks complicated things down until my mom would understand
- “Roast Me” → brutally honest when I ask for feedback on anything (great for curing ego)
Making a preset takes 30 seconds: you just type the instructions once, save it, give it a name and maybe an emoji. After that, one click and boom — different brain.
I went from spending 2-3 minutes at the start of every chat typing “act as an expert Python developer, reply only with code and short comments” to just clicking and going. Time saved per day? Easily 20-30 minutes.
2. Streaming Replies + “Continue Typing” Trick
By default, Open WebUI waits until the model finishes thinking, then dumps the whole answer at once. That tiny delay drives me insane.
Fix: go to Settings → General → turn on “Stream responses”. Now the words appear instantly like in ChatGPT. Feels twice as fast.
But here’s the pro move: when the model is still typing and I already know what I want to say next, I just start typing anyway. Open WebUI is smart — it pauses the model, sends my new message, and keeps going. Zero waiting. It feels like talking to a real person who never breaking flow.
I now have 2-3 hour conversations without ever clicking “send” and waiting. Just pure flow.
3. RAG Folders Saved
I used to lose everything. Notes, invoices, random ideas, half-written articles — all scattered across ten different apps.
Now I just drop everything into a few folders on my computer:
- /rag/business
- /rag/personal
- /rag/books
- /rag/screenshots
In Open WebUI I told it to always search those folders when I chat (takes 2 clicks to set up). Now when I ask:
“Hey, what was that pricing idea I had in October?” or “Show me the email I wrote to Alex about the refund policy” or even “What page was that quote about courage in Meditations?”
…it actually finds it and answers using my own files. No more “I swear I wrote this somewhere” panic attacks at 11 p.m.
Bonus: it works with images too. I throw screenshots, receipts, memes — anything — into the folder and I can ask “What does this error message say?” and it reads it for me.
4. The #Hashtag System Nobody Talks About
Open WebUI auto-generates titles for every chat, which is already nice. But I take it ten steps further.
At the end of any important answer, I type something like:
#taxes2025 #important #save
Now when I search “taxes” later, every single conversation about taxes shows up in one click. I have tags like:
#client-alpha #blog-ideas #health #stupid-mistakes-i-made #recipes (yes, really)
Searching feels like having a second brain. I can find a conversation from three months ago in literally 3 seconds.
5. Keyboard Shortcuts + “Focus Mode”
This one is small but ridiculous how much it helps.
Press Ctrl + K (or Cmd + K on Mac) and the command bar pops up. From there I can:
- Switch models
- Switch presets
- Start new chat
- Search old chats
- Jump to settings
…all without touching the mouse.
Then I discovered Focus Mode (click the little moon icon or press Ctrl + Shift + F). Suddenly the sidebar disappears, font gets bigger, background goes completely black. It’s like turning my monitor into a typewriter from the future.
I now do all my real writing, coding, and thinking in Focus Mode. Zero distractions. When I come out 2 hours later I have twice as much done and my eyes don’t hurt.
Bonus Round (Because I Can’t Shut Up)
- Dark mode + “Seoul” theme looks insanely good
- Mobile app works perfectly (I use it from the couch)
- You can pin your favorite 3-4 models at the top so you don’t scroll
- Turn on “Auto-scroll” so you never lose your place in long answers
- Use the “/” slash commands in the chat box — type / and see magic happen
Look, I’m not exaggerating when I say Open WebUI went from “nice to have” to “I would cry if I lost it” in about two weeks. If you’re still using the plain Ollama web UI or (god forbid) only the terminal… please, do yourself a favor for future you and install Open WebUI tonight. Seriously. Go do it right now. Thanks for reading! More awesome blogs are on the way with SightSpeak AI, so stay tuned for what’s next!