Docker Container Keeps Restarting

Read the logs before doing anything else

A restarting container means it's crashing right after it starts, and Docker's --restart always policy - which the setup guide's install command uses - keeps trying again automatically. The actual reason is almost always sitting in the container's own logs:

docker logs open-webui

For just the most recent output rather than the full history:

docker logs --tail 50 open-webui

Whatever error appears there is the real problem - guessing and re-running the install command without reading it first usually just recreates the same crash.

The usual suspects

• Port conflict. Something else on the machine is already using port 3000 (or whatever port you mapped it to). The container starts, immediately fails to bind the port, and restarts in a loop. See Port 3000 is already in use in the setup guide for the fix.
• Out of disk space. If the drive hosting Docker's data is full, containers can fail to write to their volumes and crash on startup. Check with df -h (Mac/Linux) or the drive properties in File Explorer (Windows).
• A corrupted volume after an interrupted update. If this started right after updating Open WebUI or restarting the host machine mid-update, the data volume itself may be in a bad state - Backing Up Your Local AI Setup covers what that volume actually contains and how to restore it if needed.

The safe way to start fresh

If the logs don't point to an obvious fix, removing and recreating the container is safe - your chat history and settings live in a separate named Docker volume, not inside the container itself, so this doesn't lose data:

docker rm -f open-webui

Then run the original install command from the setup guide again. It will recreate the container and reconnect to the existing volume automatically.