What is Hugging Face Chat UI used for?

Hugging Face Chat UI is a SvelteKit chat interface for large language models that connects to any OpenAI-compatible API and powers HuggingChat. It is a good fit for hosting a private chat UI for local models and building a custom branded chatbot front end.

Is Hugging Face Chat UI open source?

Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at huggingface/chat-ui and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Is Hugging Face Chat UI free?

Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Hugging Face Chat UI?

Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Hugging Face Chat UI an alternative to?

Hugging Face Chat UI is an open-source alternative to ChatGPT, Claude, Le Chat and Kimi. Other open-source alternatives to ChatGPT include Open WebUI, Jan and LobeHub.

Is Hugging Face Chat UI actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Hugging Face Chat UI was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.10.0, published on 11 May 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.

Hugging Face Chat UI: open-source alternative to ChatGPT

About Hugging Face Chat UI

Chat UI is a chat interface for LLMs built as a SvelteKit application. It is the open source codebase behind HuggingChat on Hugging Face and lets you run a similar conversational front end against models you choose, whether hosted or running locally.

The current version speaks only to OpenAI-compatible APIs, configured through a base URL and a models endpoint. The README lists the Hugging Face Inference Providers router, a llama.cpp server, Ollama through its OpenAI-compatible bridge, OpenRouter and Poe as example backends. Older provider-specific integrations were removed from the main branch but remain available on a legacy branch.

Setup involves creating an .env.local file with the endpoint and key, choosing a database option, and launching the app, with an optional Docker image. The project is written in TypeScript with Tailwind CSS and is licensed under Apache-2.0, making it a base for self-hosted assistants.

Key features

Chat front end for any OpenAI-compatible API
Works with llama.cpp, Ollama and OpenRouter
Hugging Face Inference Providers support
Configured through a simple .env.local file
Optional Docker image
SvelteKit and Tailwind CSS codebase

Good fit for

→Hosting a private chat UI for local models
→Building a custom branded chatbot front end

Built with: TypeScript; SvelteKit; Svelte; Tailwind CSS
Tags: llm; chat-interface; sveltekit; huggingface; openai-compatible; self-hosted; ollama; ai

Hugging Face Chat UI: questions and answers

What is Hugging Face Chat UI used for?: Hugging Face Chat UI is a SvelteKit chat interface for large language models that connects to any OpenAI-compatible API and powers HuggingChat. It is a good fit for hosting a private chat UI for local models and building a custom branded chatbot front end.
Is Hugging Face Chat UI open source?: Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at huggingface/chat-ui and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Hugging Face Chat UI free?: Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Hugging Face Chat UI?: Yes. Hugging Face Chat UI can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Hugging Face Chat UI an alternative to?: Hugging Face Chat UI is an open-source alternative to ChatGPT, Claude, Le Chat and Kimi. Other open-source alternatives to ChatGPT include Open WebUI, Jan and LobeHub.
Is Hugging Face Chat UI actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Hugging Face Chat UI was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.10.0, published on 11 May 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.