Lobe Chat - AI Chat Interfaces Tool

Overview

Lobe Chat is an open-source, modern-design AI chat framework focused on private, self-hosted conversational applications. According to the project's GitHub repository, it provides adapters for multiple AI providers (including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Ollama, DeepSeek, and Qwen), enabling developers to switch or combine models without rewriting the UI. The project emphasizes privacy and customization, offering one-click deployment patterns and extensibility through a plugin system that supports function calling and external tool integration. Lobe Chat targets teams and developers who need a production-ready chat interface with advanced conversation features: chain-of-thought reasoning, branching conversations, knowledge-base management via file uploads, and multimodal interactions such as speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and text-to-image generation. The repository documents integration options for local and hosted models and includes examples for connecting knowledge sources and enabling developer-facing extension points. For the latest release notes, configuration details, and contributor guidance, refer to the GitHub repository.

Installation

Install via docker:

git clone https://github.com/lobehub/lobe-chat.git

cd lobe-chat

docker compose up -d

docker compose logs -f

Key Features

• Multi-provider model adapters: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Ollama, DeepSeek, and Qwen support
• One-click private deployment with Docker Compose for self-hosted instances
• Knowledge base management: upload files to use as conversational context
• Branching conversations and chain-of-thought support for complex workflows
• Multimodal interactions: STT/TTS voice conversations and text-to-image generation
• Plugin system with function calling to integrate external tools and APIs

Community

Development and discussion take place on the project's GitHub repository, with issues, pull requests, and community contributions visible there. The repo provides contributor guidelines and an issue tracker for reporting bugs, requesting features, and discussing integrations. For up-to-date activity, release notes, and community guidance, consult the project's GitHub page.

Key Information

• Category: Chat Interfaces
• Type: AI Chat Interfaces Tool