Is it possible to enable WEB_GUI (with a custom port) using openthread/border-router docker image? #12275

simowilso · 2026-01-08T10:35:46Z

simowilso
Jan 8, 2026

Hello, I'm new to OTBR, it all seems to be working well with container openthread/border-router image on my Rpi5. As the title, I'd like to have a look at the web gui (I'm interested in see which devices have connected to which routers etc.) Is this possible? How to enable it in the compose file if so?

Answered by jadero

Jan 23, 2026

Here are my settings for the openthread/border-router image:

    environment:
      PUID: 1000
      PGID: 1000
      TZ: Europe/Berlin
      OT_RCP_DEVICE: "spinel+hdlc+uart:///dev/ttyUSB0?uart-baudrate=460800&uart-flow-control"
      OT_INFRA_IF: "wlan0"
      OT_THREAD_IF: "wpan0"
      OT_REST_LISTEN_ADDR: "0.0.0.0"
      OT_REST_LISTEN_PORT: 8081
      OT_LOG_LEVEL: 4
      OT_VENDOR_NAME: "OpenThread"
      OT_VENDOR_MODEL: "BorderRouter"
      OT_WEB_LISTEN_ADDR: "0.0.0.0"
      OT_WEB_LISTEN_PORT: 8080

View full answer

JanMiddelkoop · 2026-01-11T20:55:03Z

JanMiddelkoop
Jan 11, 2026

I'm in the same boat, very confused by the resources I can find online. Some resources seem to suggest that when you run the OTBR docker image, the web GUI is included and starts automatically. Some other resources seem to suggest it has to be enabled with environment variables. And even other resources suggest the docker image is lacking web interface, yet by the official documentation it's the recommended setup.

Long story short, the OTBR docker image seems to work fine, but I can't get the web GUI working. In the official documentation I've found lots of mentions for the web GUI, but in the installation instructions I see absolutely nothing about it. When I start OTBR I see no mention about the web GUI in the console logs and it doesn't seem to start listening on port 80 either. Can someone point me to the crucial bit of information I'm obviously missing?

3 replies

jadero Jan 11, 2026

openthread/otbr docker images comes with the web gui whereas openthread/border-router docker image does not include the web gui.

JanMiddelkoop Jan 11, 2026

Yep, that's exactly what I was missing.

ytugarev Jan 20, 2026

I'm in the same boat, very confused by the resources I can find online. Some resources seem to suggest that when you run the OTBR docker image, the web GUI is included and starts automatically. Some other resources seem to suggest it has to be enabled with environment variables. And even other resources suggest the docker image is lacking web interface, yet by the official documentation it's the recommended setup.

Long story short, the OTBR docker image seems to work fine, but I can't get the web GUI working. In the official documentation I've found lots of mentions for the web GUI, but in the installation instructions I see absolutely nothing about it. When I start OTBR I see no mention about the web GUI in the console logs and it doesn't seem to start listening on port 80 either. Can someone point me to the crucial bit of information I'm obviously missing?

Try my config for otbr. It passes port 80 for WebGUI. Although I use macvlan type of Docker network - you need to port map if you use bridge.

otbr:
    image: openthread/otbr:latest
    #image: openthread/otbr@sha256:4db55b28820ee3bdba3b4a6af33f86867a17fc479530b65743bf7c777bbf274c
    container_name: otbr
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:      
      - otbr_data:/var/lib/thread
    networks:
      e0lan:
        mac_address: b6:4a:5e:d4:cd:57
        ipv4_address: 192.168.50.152        
    privileged: true
    environment:
      #- TZ=Europe/Berlin
      - RADIO_URL=spinel+hdlc+uart:///dev/ttyUSB1?uart-baudrate=460800
      - DEBUG_LEVEL=6
      - FIREWALL=0
      - NAT64=1
      - BAUDRATE=460800
      - REST_API=1
      - DOCKER=1
      - REST_HOST=192.168.50.152
      - REST_PORT=8081
      - HTTP_HOST=192.168.50.152
      - HTTP_PORT=80
    devices:
      - /dev/serial/by-id/usb-SMLIGHT_SMLIGHT_SLZB-06_8a732fbed773ef11b57cc48c8fcc3fa0-if00-port0:/dev/ttyUSB_MATTER
    #dns: 127.0.0.1

simowilso · 2026-01-11T22:50:26Z

simowilso
Jan 11, 2026
Author

Thanks, I suspected this was the case. I briefly trying swapping images on my container from open thread to otbr but it wasn't happy about that so I parked the idea for now. Sent from Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

…

________________________________ From: Jan Middelkoop ***@***.***> Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2026 10:45:29 PM To: openthread/openthread ***@***.***> Cc: simowilso ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [openthread/openthread] Is it possible to enable WEB_GUI (with a custom port) using openthread/border-router docker image? (Discussion #12275) Yep, that's exactly what I was missing. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#12275 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADVBFV2FUMSA3X3UVO47R7D4GLHATAVCNFSM6AAAAACRBSMGLGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNBXGA4DENA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

0 replies

jwhui · 2026-01-21T21:11:07Z

jwhui
Jan 21, 2026
Maintainer

Submitted:

[docker] add web gui to border-router ot-br-posix#3200

2 replies

ytugarev Jan 22, 2026

@jwhui Thanks a lot for adding this feature! BTW Is it possible to swap image: openthread/otbr:latest to openthread/border-router
and just use existing volume (otbr_data:/var/lib/thread) to migrate?

jwhui Jan 22, 2026
Maintainer

I think it should work. You'll need to make sure to specify the proper host directory using --volume.

https://openthread.io/guides/border-router/build-docker#start-the-otbr-docker-container

simowilso · 2026-01-23T17:04:42Z

simowilso
Jan 23, 2026
Author

Thanks a lot for adding this. I'm getting this error in the log though?
Starting otbr-web...
[INFO]-WEB-----: Running 0.3.0-5e39396
[INFO]-WEB-----: Border router web started on wpan0
00:00:39.942 [I] P-Daemon------: Session socket is ready
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Input: state
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: router
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: Done
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Input: networkname
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: OpenThread-8873
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: Done
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Input: extpanid
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: 4e3623c4ee277dde
00:00:39.942 [D] Cli-----------: Output: Done
otbr-web ended with exit code 0 (signal 0).

Something wrong with my environment variables?

environment:
  OT_RCP_DEVICE: spinel+hdlc+uart:///dev/ttyUSB0?uart-baudrate=460800&uart-flow-control
  OT_INFRA_IF: eth0 #enp6s16
  OT_THREAD_IF: wpan0
  OT_REST_LISTEN_ADDR: 0.0.0.0
  OT_REST_LISTEN_PORT: 8088
  OT_LOG_LEVEL: 7
  WEB_GUI: 1
  HTTP_PORT: 8091
  HTTP_HOST: 192.168.0.54

4 replies

jadero Jan 23, 2026

Here are my settings for the openthread/border-router image:

    environment:
      PUID: 1000
      PGID: 1000
      TZ: Europe/Berlin
      OT_RCP_DEVICE: "spinel+hdlc+uart:///dev/ttyUSB0?uart-baudrate=460800&uart-flow-control"
      OT_INFRA_IF: "wlan0"
      OT_THREAD_IF: "wpan0"
      OT_REST_LISTEN_ADDR: "0.0.0.0"
      OT_REST_LISTEN_PORT: 8081
      OT_LOG_LEVEL: 4
      OT_VENDOR_NAME: "OpenThread"
      OT_VENDOR_MODEL: "BorderRouter"
      OT_WEB_LISTEN_ADDR: "0.0.0.0"
      OT_WEB_LISTEN_PORT: 8080

Answer selected by simowilso

simowilso Jan 23, 2026
Author

Brilliant, thanks, the last two lines are what was needed

simowilso Jan 23, 2026
Author

@jadero does your topology page work? Mine shows this, along with a never ending spinner:

jadero Jan 23, 2026

@jadero does your topology page work? Mine shows this, along with a never ending spinner:

yes, topology view works.

Is it possible to enable WEB_GUI (with a custom port) using openthread/border-router docker image? #12275

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Replies: 4 comments · 9 replies

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simowilso Jan 11, 2026 Author

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jwhui Jan 21, 2026 Maintainer

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jwhui Jan 22, 2026 Maintainer

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simowilso Jan 23, 2026 Author

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simowilso Jan 23, 2026 Author

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simowilso Jan 23, 2026 Author

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Replies: 4 comments 9 replies

simowilso
Jan 11, 2026
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jwhui
Jan 21, 2026
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jwhui Jan 22, 2026
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simowilso
Jan 23, 2026
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simowilso Jan 23, 2026
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simowilso Jan 23, 2026
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