DE
Back to Blog
#companychatbot#doccape#openwebui#privacy#AI#GDPR

OpenWebUI as a Company Chatbot

April 25, 2025Niklas Kleinhans

Language models have become indispensable in many workplaces. Yet companies still face open questions and hurdles — especially when sensitive data is involved. An in-house company chatbot is a real alternative to off-the-shelf solutions. OpenWebUI offers an intuitive interface ideal for integrating various language models, and brings many advantages with it. In this article we explain why we use OpenWebUI and why we integrate doccape into the processing pipeline.

OpenWebUIdoccape Module

Table of Contents

Share on Social Media

Why a company-internal chatbot?

Whether developer, project manager, designer or social media manager – most workplaces now rely on language models. They assist with creativity, proofreading, idea generation, support automation, and even the development of new business areas. Company-internal chatbots can increase efficiency, improve communication, and support process automation. But especially with regard to data privacy, many companies are still uncertain and looking for solutions.

It is often unavoidable that employees use external tools like ChatGPT to process internal company data. These language models offer many advantages and should therefore be an approved tool for all employees. Yet it remains essential that data is protected. Company-internal offerings are therefore key. Either a GDPR-compliant provider is chosen, or a secure service is operated on the company's own servers to protect sensitive corporate data. For these reasons, we use OpenWebUI ourselves.

What is OpenWebUI?

OpenWebUI is an open-source application that provides an intuitive user interface similar to ChatGPT. It is particularly well suited for companies that want to integrate their own language models or use services from providers such as OpenAI, Mistral, DeepSeek, and others. Thanks to local installation support, OpenWebUI offers a flexible, privacy-friendly solution for integrating modern chatbot technology into your own corporate environment.

Benefits of OpenWebUI as a company chatbot

  1. Open-Source: The source code is freely viewable and continuously extended by community plugins. Extensions can also be added easily by your own development team.
  2. User management: OpenWebUI comes with built-in user management including roles and permissions.
  3. Continuous development: OpenWebUI is constantly being improved and extended with new features. The open source model means bugs and new features are developed quickly, making it a future-proof investment.
  4. Local installation: This ensures that data stays on your own servers and is not sent to external third parties.
  5. Flexible integration: Companies can integrate their own models or use services from OpenAI and other providers such as Mistral, DeepSeek, or LLaMA. Connecting OpenAI via Azure instances is also an option to ensure data is only processed within the European region.
  6. Intuitive user interface: OpenWebUI offers a user-friendly interface designed similarly to ChatGPT, meaning employees can adopt it quickly.

Use cases for OpenWebUI

There are various approaches and complexity levels for deploying OpenWebUI, depending on requirements:

  1. Complex workflows: In combination with the AI workflow platform n8n, complex processes can be mapped securely — for example to connect email inboxes or build agent systems.
  2. As a knowledge database: Integrating a knowledge database can massively extend the chatbot's functionality. Documents can be searched or used as a basis for text generation.
  3. Local chatbot: OpenWebUI can be easily installed on local servers and used directly with a local language model, which already provides a solid foundation for company-internal chatbots.

Privacy by Design through doccape

Despite installation on local servers, there is still a risk in OpenWebUI that sensitive data is sent to the language models. To give us free choice when using language models, we use doccape to anonymize inputs.

Our doccape plugin was developed to address these security concerns:

  1. Protection of sensitive data: This processing ensures that no confidential information reaches the models — whether installed locally or on external servers.
  2. Anonymization and pseudonymization: All chat inputs and file uploads are anonymized and pseudonymized before being passed to the language models.

During pseudonymization by doccape, configurable entities such as persons, addresses, account numbers, and other sensitive information are recognized and replaced by standardized pseudonyms — for example PER-1, STR-1, and KNR-1. Intelligent pseudonymization ensures that these entities are consistently mapped, preserving context for the language model without processing sensitive data. When needed, de-pseudonymization can be performed, replacing the pseudonyms with their original values. In addition to text, images can also be anonymized.

Interested in a company chatbot?

We have made a publicly accessible instance of OpenWebUI with our doccape module available. You can register at openwebui.doccape.de and try out OpenWebUI.

We are happy to advise and support you in setting up a company chatbot. Simply book a free consultation, or contact us via our contact form.

Learn more about doccape integration options at Integrations.

Planning an internal company chatbot?

We can support you with architecture, privacy and rollout — including practical guardrails (e.g. anonymization before model calls).

AI sparring
Planning an internal company chatbot?
Previous post
The Difference Between Pseudonymization and Anonymization
Anonymization or pseudonymization — what's the right approach in the age of AI? In this post we explain what sets these two methods apart, what legal frameworks apply, and how you can still conduct valuable data analyses despite privacy requirements. With examples, use cases, and clear recommendations.
Next post
Secure and Efficient AI Workflows with n8n and doccape
In today's data-driven world, AI workflows are growing in importance. At the same time, requirements for data privacy and secure data processing are rising — especially when sensitive information is involved. With doccape and our new n8n module, we offer a simple and secure way to seamlessly integrate anonymization and pseudonymization into your automated workflows.