open-webui/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

# Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct

## Our Pledge

As members, contributors, and leaders of this community, we pledge to make participation in our project a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socioeconomic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We are committed to creating and maintaining an open, respectful, and professional environment where positive contributions and meaningful discussions can flourish. By participating in this project, you agree to uphold these values and align your behavior to the standards outlined in this Code of Conduct.

## Why These Standards Are Important

Projects rely on a community of volunteers dedicating their time, expertise, and effort toward a shared goal. These projects are inherently collaborative but also fragile, as the success of the project depends on the goodwill, energy, and productivity of those involved.

Maintaining a positive and respectful environment is essential to safeguarding the integrity of this project and protecting contributors' efforts. Behavior that disrupts this atmosphere—whether through hostility, entitlement, or unprofessional conduct—can severely harm the morale and productivity of the community. **Strict enforcement of these standards ensures a safe and supportive space for meaningful collaboration.**

This is a community where **respect and professionalism are mandatory.** Violations of these standards will result in **zero tolerance** and immediate enforcement to prevent disruption and ensure the well-being of all participants.

## Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contribute to a positive and professional community include:

- **Respecting others.** Be considerate, listen actively, and engage with empathy toward others' viewpoints and experiences.
- **Constructive feedback.** Provide actionable, thoughtful, and respectful feedback that helps improve the project and encourages collaboration. Avoid unproductive negativity or hypercriticism.
- **Recognizing volunteer contributions.** Appreciate that **contributors dedicate their free time and resources selflessly**. Approach them with gratitude and patience.
- **Focusing on shared goals.** Collaborate in ways that prioritize the health, success, and sustainability of the community over individual agendas.

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

- The use of discriminatory, demeaning, or sexualized language or behavior.
- Personal attacks, derogatory comments, trolling, or inflammatory political or ideological arguments.
- Harassment, intimidation, or any behavior intended to create a hostile, uncomfortable, or unsafe environment.
- Publishing others' private information (e.g., physical or email addresses) without explicit permission.
- **Entitlement, demand, or aggression toward contributors.** Volunteers are under no obligation to provide immediate or personalized support. Rude or dismissive behavior will not be tolerated.
- **Unproductive or destructive behavior.** This includes venting frustration as hostility ("tantrums"), hypercriticism, attention-seeking negativity, or anything that distracts from the project's goals.
- **Spamming and promotional exploitation.** Sharing irrelevant product promotions or self-promotion in the community is not allowed unless it directly contributes value to the discussion.
- Posting low-effort, hard to read, essay-length AI generated comments or other forms of low-quality, hard to parse content that puts the burden of understanding on the reader.

### How We Develop the Project

Development is led by the maintainers, and code pull requests are reserved for work we explicitly request or exceptional contributions we choose to consider at our discretion. We use actionable reports and concrete use cases to understand problems, then evaluate, revise, and implement the appropriate approach internally. We assess each change against the project's architecture, existing behavior, quality standards, and future direction before settling on an implementation. Resolving a reported problem requires that broader context, and a working external patch usually requires substantial rewriting to meet the project's standards. Reviewing the patch, explaining the required changes, and coordinating successive revisions usually takes more effort than developing the solution internally. Fragmented commit histories, branches that have not been rebased, unresolved conflicts, and lengthy or unverified AI-generated comments add cleanup and discussion that delay the underlying work. Maintainers remain responsible for testing, documenting, supporting, and maintaining every accepted change, so we choose the approach based on the whole product and its ongoing maintenance. Clear reports, reproduction details, and relevant context give us what we need to make those decisions and develop the solution. A polished implementation, clean commit history, or completed checklist does not establish an exception to this process, and opening an issue or discussion is not an invitation to submit a PR. Wait for an explicit maintainer request before investing in a PR; unsolicited submissions are generally closed without review, and requested PRs remain subject to maintainer judgment.

### Feedback and Community Engagement

Participation should help maintainers understand a concrete problem while respecting the project's priorities and available capacity. Please follow the [issue templates](.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE) and [pull request policy](.github/pull_request_template.md) before submitting anything.

- **Make reports actionable.** Search existing issues and discussions, check the latest version and whether the problem is already addressed on `dev`, and use the appropriate template. Bug reports should describe a reproducible problem, the affected workflow, expected and actual behavior, and relevant evidence. Feature requests should explain the user-facing need; broader product, UX, architecture, or maintenance questions belong in Discussions. Report security concerns privately through the [security reporting process](https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/security).
- **Share the problem before investing in code.** Start with an actionable issue or discussion and leave implementation planning to the maintainers. An issue or discussion alone is not an invitation to submit a PR. Please wait for an explicit request before opening one; any exception is at the maintainers' discretion. Implementation notes, local diffs, or patches may be shared as reference in the relevant issue or discussion.
- **Respect maintainers' discretion.** Submitting an issue, proposal, or pull request does not create an obligation to respond, review, implement, or merge it. Maintainers set the project's direction and defer or close submissions based on scope, quality, maintenance cost, or available capacity. Unsolicited pull requests are generally closed without review.
- **Keep discussion focused and concise.** Provide new information when it helps evaluate the problem. Repeated bumps, duplicate submissions, unsolicited direct messages seeking attention, or pressure for timelines place an unnecessary burden on contributors.
- **Respect decisions and boundaries.** Technical disagreement is welcome when expressed professionally. Reopening a declined request or continuing to press for a different outcome without new, relevant information is not constructive. You are free to explore a different direction in your own fork.

Participants are expected to respect maintainers' decisions and the contribution process. Harassment, hostility, or repeated disregard for these boundaries will result in enforcement under this Code of Conduct.

### Zero Tolerance: No Warnings, Immediate Action

This community operates under a **zero-tolerance policy.** Any behavior deemed unacceptable under this Code of Conduct will result in **immediate enforcement, without prior warning.**

We employ this approach to ensure that unproductive or disruptive behavior does not escalate further or cause unnecessary harm to other contributors. The standards are clear, and violations of any kind—whether mild or severe—will be addressed decisively to protect the community.

## Enforcement Responsibilities

Community leaders are responsible for upholding and enforcing these standards. They are empowered to take **immediate and appropriate action** to address any behaviors they deem unacceptable under this Code of Conduct. These actions are taken with the goal of protecting the community and preserving its safe, positive, and productive environment.

## Scope

This Code of Conduct applies to all community spaces, including forums, repositories, social media accounts, and in-person events. It also applies when an individual represents the community in public settings, such as conferences or official communications.

Additionally, any behavior outside of these defined spaces that negatively impacts the community or its members may fall within the scope of this Code of Conduct.

## Reporting Violations

Instances of unacceptable behavior can be reported to the leadership team at **hello@openwebui.com**. Reports will be handled promptly, confidentially, and with consideration for the safety and well-being of the reporter.

All community leaders are required to uphold confidentiality and impartiality when addressing reports of violations.

## Enforcement Guidelines

### Ban

**Community Impact**: Community leaders will issue a ban to any participant whose behavior is deemed unacceptable according to this Code of Conduct. Bans are enforced immediately and without prior notice.

A ban may be temporary or permanent, depending on the severity of the violation. This includes—but is not limited to—behavior such as:

- Harassment or abusive behavior toward contributors.
- Persistent negativity or hostility that disrupts the collaborative environment.
- Disrespectful, demanding, or aggressive interactions with others.
- Attempts to cause harm or sabotage the community.

**Consequence**: A banned individual is immediately removed from access to all community spaces, communication channels, and events. Community leaders reserve the right to enforce either a time-limited suspension or a permanent ban based on the specific circumstances of the violation.

This approach ensures that disruptive behaviors are addressed swiftly and decisively in order to maintain the integrity and productivity of the community.

## Why Zero Tolerance Is Necessary

Projects thrive on collaboration, goodwill, and mutual respect. Toxic behaviors—such as entitlement, hostility, or persistent negativity—threaten not just individual contributors but the health of the project as a whole. Allowing such behaviors to persist robs contributors of their time, energy, and enthusiasm for the work they do.

By enforcing a zero-tolerance policy, we ensure that the community remains a safe, welcoming space for all participants. These measures are not about harshness—they are about protecting contributors and fostering a productive environment where innovation can thrive.

Our expectations are clear, and our enforcement reflects our commitment to this project's long-term success.

## Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the [Contributor Covenant][homepage], version 2.0, available at  
https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct.html.

Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by [Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder](https://github.com/mozilla/diversity).

[homepage]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org

For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see the FAQ at  
https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq. Translations are available at  
https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations.