Single key

+++ disableToc = false title = "Authentication & Authorization" weight = 85 url = '/features/authentication' +++

LocalAI supports two authentication modes: legacy API key authentication (simple shared keys) and a full user authentication system with roles, sessions, OAuth, and per-user usage tracking.

Legacy API Key Authentication

The simplest way to protect your LocalAI instance is with API keys. Set one or more keys via environment variable or CLI flag:

# Single key
LOCALAI_API_KEY=sk-my-secret-key localai run

# Multiple keys (comma-separated)
LOCALAI_API_KEY=key1,key2,key3 localai run

Clients provide the key via any of these methods:

• Authorization: Bearer <key> header
• x-api-key: <key> header
• xi-api-key: <key> header
• token cookie

Legacy API keys grant full admin access - there is no role separation. For multi-user deployments with role-based access, use the user authentication system instead.

API keys can also be managed at runtime through the [Runtime Settings]({{%relref "features/runtime-settings" %}}) interface.

Protected and anonymous HTTP routes

When you configure database authentication or legacy API keys, LocalAI makes the HTTP surface private by default. An anonymous request succeeds only for an approved method and path or an explicit deployment override. If you configure neither authentication mode, the authentication middleware does not restrict requests.

Public discovery APIs

The following discovery requests are available anonymously:

• GET /.well-known/localai.json
• GET /api/instructions
• GET /api/instructions/{name}
• Swagger GET requests at /swagger and under /swagger/

These discovery APIs describe the server's API surface. The endpoints that they advertise still require credentials unless this section lists them as public or bootstrap routes.

Anonymous bootstrap routes

LocalAI also permits the requests needed for health checks, credential acquisition, and the login UI. These routes do not make the rest of the API public.

• Health checks: GET /healthz and GET /readyz.
• Authentication status and token login: GET /api/auth/status and POST /api/auth/token-login.
• Local registration and login: POST /api/auth/register and POST /api/auth/login.
• GitHub OAuth: GET /api/auth/github/login and GET /api/auth/github/callback.
• OIDC: GET /api/auth/oidc/login and GET /api/auth/oidc/callback.
• Authentication preflight requests: OPTIONS under /api/auth/.
• SPA shell routes: GET /, HEAD /, and GET requests at /app, /browse, /login, /invite/*, and /explorer. Subpaths under /app/ and /browse/ are also available through GET.
• SPA assets: GET /favicon.svg and GET requests under /assets/, /locales/, and /static/.
• Branding reads: GET /api/branding and GET requests under /branding/asset/. Branding mutations still require admin credentials.

Routes that require credentials

Without an explicit deployment override, every other route requires credentials. This includes GET /version, all model and backend API routes, and all inference routes. MCP and moderation aliases are also private:

• POST /v1/mcp/chat/completions, POST /mcp/v1/chat/completions, and POST /mcp/chat/completions
• POST /v1/moderations and POST /moderations

Generated output URLs also require credentials. This applies to every URL under /generated-audio/, /generated-images/, /generated-videos/, and /generated-3d/.

Explicit deployment overrides

Embedded deployments can add path prefixes to ApplicationConfig.PathWithoutAuth. Each prefix bypasses global authentication for every HTTP method below that prefix. Route-specific authorization still applies when the route registers it. Keep these overrides as narrow as possible; the default list is empty.

Two legacy flags provide a separate GET-only compatibility override when legacy API keys are configured:

• LOCALAI_DISABLE_API_KEY_REQUIREMENT_FOR_HTTP_GET=true enables the override.
• LOCALAI_HTTP_GET_EXEMPTED_ENDPOINTS sets the regular expressions for the exempt GET routes.

The endpoint expressions have no effect unless you enable LOCALAI_DISABLE_API_KEY_REQUIREMENT_FOR_HTTP_GET. Review custom expressions carefully because they can expose protected reads.

User Authentication System

The user authentication system provides:

• User accounts with email, name, and avatar
• Role-based access control (admin vs. user)
• Session-based authentication with secure cookies
• OAuth login (GitHub) and OIDC single sign-on (Keycloak, Google, Okta, Authentik, etc.)
• Per-user API keys for programmatic access
• Admin route gating - management endpoints are restricted to admins
• Per-user usage tracking with token consumption metrics

Enabling Authentication

Set LOCALAI_AUTH=true or provide a GitHub OAuth Client ID or OIDC Client ID (which auto-enables auth):

# Enable with SQLite (default, stored at {DataPath}/database.db)
LOCALAI_AUTH=true localai run

# Enable with GitHub OAuth
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id \
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret \
LOCALAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080 \
localai run

# Enable with OIDC provider (e.g. Keycloak)
LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER=https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm \
LOCALAI_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id \
LOCALAI_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret \
LOCALAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080 \
localai run

# Enable with PostgreSQL
LOCALAI_AUTH=true \
LOCALAI_AUTH_DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@host/dbname \
localai run

Configuration Reference

Note: network-backed storage. File-based SQLite relies on POSIX file locking, which is unreliable over network filesystems (SMB/CIFS/NFS, e.g. Azure Files / Azure Container Apps shared volumes). On such storage the auth DB can fail to migrate with database is locked. Use PostgreSQL (LOCALAI_AUTH_DATABASE_URL=postgres://...) when the data directory lives on shared or network storage, or place database.db on a local volume.

Disabling Local Authentication

If you want to enforce OAuth/OIDC-only login and prevent users from registering or logging in with email/password, set LOCALAI_DISABLE_LOCAL_AUTH=true (or pass --disable-local-auth):

# OAuth-only setup (no email/password)
LOCALAI_DISABLE_LOCAL_AUTH=true \
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id \
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret \
LOCALAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080 \
localai run

When disabled:

• The login page will not show email/password forms (the UI checks the providers list from /api/auth/status)
• POST /api/auth/register returns 403 Forbidden
• POST /api/auth/login returns 403 Forbidden
• OAuth/OIDC login continues to work normally

Roles

There are two roles:

• Admin: Full access to all endpoints, including model management, backend configuration, system settings, traces, agents, and user management.
• User: Access to inference endpoints only - chat completions, embeddings, image/video/audio generation, TTS, MCP chat, and their own usage statistics.

The first user to sign in is automatically assigned the admin role. Additional users can be promoted to admin via the admin user management API or by setting LOCALAI_ADMIN_EMAIL to their email address.

Registration Modes

Invite Links

Admins can generate single-use, time-limited invite links from the Users → Invites tab in the web UI, or via the API:

# Create an invite link (default: expires in 7 days)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/invites \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"expiresInHours": 168}'

# List all invites
curl http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/invites \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>"

# Revoke an unused invite
curl -X DELETE http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/invites/<invite-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>"

Share the invite URL (/invite/<code>) with the user. When they open it, the registration form is pre-filled with the invite code. LocalAI validates the code only when the user submits registration. Invite codes are single-use - once consumed, they cannot be reused. Expired or used invites are rejected.

For GitHub OAuth, the invite code is passed as a query parameter to the login URL (/api/auth/github/login?invite_code=<code>) and stored in a cookie during the OAuth flow.

Admin-Only Endpoints

When authentication is enabled, the following endpoints require admin role:

Model & Backend Management:

• GET /api/models, POST /api/models/install/*, POST /api/models/delete/*
• GET /api/backends, POST /api/backends/install/*, POST /api/backends/delete/*
• GET /api/operations, POST /api/operations/*/cancel, POST /api/operations/*/pause, POST /api/operations/*/dismiss
• GET /api/operations/history, DELETE /api/operations/history
• GET /models/available, GET /models/galleries, GET /models/jobs/*
• GET /backends, GET /backends/available, GET /backends/galleries

System & Monitoring:

• GET /api/traces, GET /api/traces/summary, GET /api/traces/{id}, POST /api/traces/clear
• GET /api/backend-traces, GET /api/backend-traces/{id}, POST /api/backend-traces/clear
• GET /api/backend-logs/*, POST /api/backend-logs/*/clear
• GET /api/resources, GET /api/settings, POST /api/settings
• GET /system, GET /backend/monitor, POST /backend/shutdown, POST /backend/load

P2P:

• GET /api/p2p/*

Agents & Jobs:

• All /api/agents/* endpoints
• All /api/agent/tasks/* and /api/agent/jobs/* endpoints

User-Accessible Endpoints (all authenticated users):

• POST /v1/chat/completions, POST /v1/embeddings, POST /v1/completions
• POST /v1/images/generations, POST /v1/audio/*, POST /tts, POST /vad, POST /video
• GET /v1/models, POST /v1/tokenize, POST /v1/detokenize, POST /v1/detection
• POST /v1/mcp/chat/completions, POST /v1/messages, POST /v1/responses
• POST /stores/*, GET /api/cors-proxy
• GET /version, GET /api/features, GET /metrics
• GET /api/auth/usage (own usage data)

Web UI Access Control

When auth is enabled, the React UI sidebar dynamically shows/hides sections based on the user's role:

• All users see: Home, Chat, Images, Video, TTS, Sound, Talk, Usage, API docs link
• Admins also see: Models, the Build console (Agents, Skills, Memory, Jobs, Training, Recognition), and the Operate console (Backends, Activity, Nodes, Usage, Traces, Users, Middleware, Settings)

Admin-only pages are also protected at the router level - navigating directly to an admin URL redirects non-admin users to the home page.

GitHub OAuth Setup

1. Create a GitHub OAuth App at Settings → Developer settings → OAuth Apps → New OAuth App
2. Set the Authorization callback URL to {LOCALAI_BASE_URL}/api/auth/github/callback
3. Set GITHUB_CLIENT_ID and GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET environment variables
4. Set LOCALAI_BASE_URL to your publicly-accessible URL

OIDC Setup

Any OIDC-compliant identity provider can be used for single sign-on. This includes Keycloak, Google, Okta, Authentik, Azure AD, and many others.

Steps:

1. Create a client/application in your OIDC provider
2. Set the redirect URL to {LOCALAI_BASE_URL}/api/auth/oidc/callback
3. Set the three environment variables: LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER, LOCALAI_OIDC_CLIENT_ID, LOCALAI_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET

LocalAI uses OIDC auto-discovery (the /.well-known/openid-configuration endpoint) and requests the standard scopes: openid, profile, email.

Provider examples:

# Keycloak
LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER=https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm

# Google
LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER=https://accounts.google.com

# Authentik
LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER=https://authentik.example.com/application/o/localai/

# Okta
LOCALAI_OIDC_ISSUER=https://your-org.okta.com

For OIDC, invite codes work the same way as GitHub OAuth - the invite code is passed as a query parameter to the login URL (/api/auth/oidc/login?invite_code=<code>) and stored in a cookie during the OAuth flow.

User API Keys

Authenticated users can create personal API keys for programmatic access:

# Create an API key (requires session auth)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/auth/api-keys \
  -H "Cookie: session=<session-id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "My Script Key"}'

User API keys inherit the creating user's role. Admin keys grant admin access; user keys grant user-level access.

Auth API Endpoints

Usage Tracking

When authentication is enabled, LocalAI automatically tracks per-user token usage for inference endpoints. Usage data includes:

• Prompt tokens, completion tokens, and total tokens per request
• Model used and endpoint called
• Request duration
• Timestamp for time-series aggregation

Viewing Usage

Usage is accessible through the Usage page in the web UI (visible to all authenticated users) or via the API:

# Get your own usage (default: last 30 days)
curl http://localhost:8080/api/auth/usage?period=month \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

# Admin: get all users' usage
curl http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/usage?period=week \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>"

# Admin: filter by specific user
curl "http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/usage?period=month&user_id=<user-id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>"

Period values:

• day - last 24 hours, bucketed by hour
• week - last 7 days, bucketed by day
• month - last 30 days, bucketed by day (default)
• all - all time, bucketed by month

Response format:

{
  "usage": [
    {
      "bucket": "2026-03-18",
      "model": "gpt-4",
      "user_id": "abc-123",
      "user_name": "Alice",
      "prompt_tokens": 1500,
      "completion_tokens": 800,
      "total_tokens": 2300,
      "request_count": 12
    }
  ],
  "totals": {
    "prompt_tokens": 1500,
    "completion_tokens": 800,
    "total_tokens": 2300,
    "request_count": 12
  }
}

Usage Dashboard

The web UI Usage page provides:

• Period selector - switch between day, week, month, and all-time views
• Summary cards - total requests, prompt tokens, completion tokens, total tokens
• By Model table - per-model breakdown with visual usage bars
• By User table (admin only) - per-user breakdown across all models
• Sources tab - per-API-key and per-source breakdown (described below)

Per-API-key Breakdown

The Sources tab on the Usage page surfaces a third dimension of the same data: traffic broken down by API key and by request source. Three source classes are tracked:

• API key - request authenticated with a named user API key (Authorization: Bearer lai-..., x-api-key, or token cookie). Each key shows up with its label (snapshotted at write time, so revoked keys still display the original name).
• Web UI - request authenticated with a browser session cookie.
• Legacy - request authenticated with an env-configured LOCALAI_API_KEY. Visible to admins only.

The Sources tab is visible to every authenticated user. Non-admins see only their own keys plus their own Web UI traffic (legacy is filtered server-side). Admins see every key from every user.

The tab is laid out as:

• A source mix ribbon showing the percentage split across the three classes.
• A top-N + Other stacked time chart (top 7 sources by total tokens; the rest roll up).
• A searchable, sortable table of every key plus the Web UI and Legacy pseudo-rows. Click a row to filter the chart to that source.

Endpoints

Both endpoints accept the same period parameter (day, week, month, all) as /api/auth/usage.

# Your own per-source usage for the last week
curl "http://localhost:8080/api/auth/usage/sources?period=week" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

# Admin: filter to a single API key across all users
curl "http://localhost:8080/api/auth/admin/usage/sources?period=month&api_key_id=<key-id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>"

Response shape:

{
  "buckets": [
    { "bucket": "2026-05-19", "source": "apikey",
      "api_key_id": "uuid", "api_key_name": "ci-runner",
      "total_tokens": 20000, "request_count": 142, "...": "..." },
    { "bucket": "2026-05-19", "source": "web",
      "total_tokens": 300, "request_count": 11, "...": "..." }
  ],
  "totals": {
    "by_source": {
      "apikey": { "tokens": 1234567, "requests": 8420 },
      "web":    { "tokens":   92000, "requests":   211 }
    },
    "by_key": [
      { "api_key_id": "uuid", "api_key_name": "ci-runner",
        "tokens": 2100000, "requests": 8420,
        "last_used": "2026-05-20T12:34:56Z" }
    ],
    "grand_total": { "tokens": 1334777, "requests": 8645 }
  },
  "truncated": false
}

The by_key list is server-sorted by tokens descending and capped at 200 entries. When more keys would qualify, the response sets "truncated": true so the UI can show a notice.

Migration of pre-feature data

Usage rows recorded before this feature have no source column. On startup, InitDB backfills them as legacy when the synthetic legacy-api-key user_id was used, and web for everything else. The migration is idempotent; existing aggregations remain correct after the upgrade.

Combining Auth Modes

Legacy API keys and user authentication can be used simultaneously. When both are configured:

1. User sessions and user API keys are checked first
2. Legacy API keys are checked as fallback - they grant admin-level access
3. This allows a gradual migration from shared API keys to per-user accounts

Build Requirements

The user authentication system requires CGO for SQLite support. It is enabled with the auth build tag, which is included by default in Docker builds.

# Building from source with auth support
GO_TAGS=auth make build

# Or directly with go build
go build -tags auth ./...

The default Dockerfile includes GO_TAGS="auth", so all Docker images ship with auth support. When building from source without the auth tag, setting LOCALAI_AUTH=true has no effect - the system operates without authentication.