fix(platform): better default API Base URLs when running in docker

backend/Dockerfile

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ founders@onyx.app for more information. Please visit https://github.com/onyx-dot
 ARG ENABLE_CRAFT=false
 
 # DO_NOT_TRACK is used to disable telemetry for Unstructured
-ENV DANSWER_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER="true" \
+ENV ONYX_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER="true" \
     DO_NOT_TRACK="true" \
     PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH="/app/.cache/ms-playwright"
 

backend/Dockerfile.model_server

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Base stage with dependencies
 FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bookworm AS base
 
-ENV DANSWER_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER="true" \
+ENV ONYX_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER="true" \
     HF_HOME=/app/.cache/huggingface
 
 COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:0.9.9 /uv /uvx /bin/

backend/onyx/background/celery/memory_monitoring.py

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from logging.handlers import RotatingFileHandler
 
 import psutil
 
-from onyx.utils.logger import is_running_in_container
+from onyx.utils.platform import is_running_in_container
 from onyx.utils.logger import setup_logger
 
 # Regular application logger

backend/onyx/background/celery/tasks/monitoring/tasks.py

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ from onyx.db.models import UserGroup
 from onyx.db.search_settings import get_active_search_settings_list
 from onyx.redis.redis_pool import get_redis_client
 from onyx.redis.redis_pool import redis_lock_dump
-from onyx.utils.logger import is_running_in_container
+from onyx.utils.platform import is_running_in_container
 from onyx.utils.telemetry import optional_telemetry
 from onyx.utils.telemetry import RecordType
 from shared_configs.configs import MULTI_TENANT

backend/onyx/server/settings/api.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.exc import SQLAlchemyError
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
 from onyx import __version__ as onyx_version
+from onyx.utils.platform import is_running_in_container
 from onyx.auth.permissions import require_permission
 from onyx.auth.users import is_user_admin
 from onyx.configs.app_configs import DEFAULT_USER_FILE_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE_MB
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ def fetch_settings(
             if DISABLE_VECTOR_DB
             else DEFAULT_FILE_TOKEN_COUNT_THRESHOLD_K_VECTOR_DB
         ),
+        is_containerized=is_running_in_container(),
     )
 
 

backend/onyx/server/settings/models.py

@@ -131,3 +131,7 @@ class UserSettings(Settings):
             else DEFAULT_FILE_TOKEN_COUNT_THRESHOLD_K_VECTOR_DB
         )
     )
+    # True when the backend is running inside a container (Docker/Podman).
+    # The frontend uses this to default local-service URLs (e.g. Ollama,
+    # LM Studio) to host.docker.internal instead of localhost.
+    is_containerized: bool = False

backend/onyx/utils/logger.py

@@ -169,11 +169,7 @@ def get_standard_formatter() -> ColoredFormatter:
     )
 
 
-DANSWER_DOCKER_ENV_STR = "DANSWER_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER"
-
-
-def is_running_in_container() -> bool:
-    return os.getenv(DANSWER_DOCKER_ENV_STR) == "true"
+from onyx.utils.platform import is_running_in_container  # noqa: F401
 
 
 def setup_logger(

backend/onyx/utils/platform.py

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import logging
+import os
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+_ONYX_DOCKER_ENV_STR = "ONYX_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER"
+_DANSWER_DOCKER_ENV_STR = "DANSWER_RUNNING_IN_DOCKER"
+
+
+def is_running_in_container() -> bool:
+    onyx_val = os.getenv(_ONYX_DOCKER_ENV_STR)
+    if onyx_val is not None:
+        return onyx_val == "true"
+
+    danswer_val = os.getenv(_DANSWER_DOCKER_ENV_STR)
+    if danswer_val is not None:
+        logger.warning(
+            "%s is deprecated and will be ignored in a future release. "
+            "Use %s instead.",
+            _DANSWER_DOCKER_ENV_STR,
+            _ONYX_DOCKER_ENV_STR,
+        )
+        return danswer_val == "true"
+
+    return False

web/src/interfaces/settings.ts

@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ export interface Settings {
   // Factory defaults for the restore button.
   default_user_file_max_upload_size_mb?: number;
   default_file_token_count_threshold_k?: number;
+
+  // True when the backend runs inside a container (Docker/Podman).
+  // Used to default local-service URLs to host.docker.internal.
+  is_containerized?: boolean;
 }
 
 export enum NotificationType {

web/src/sections/modals/llmConfig/LMStudioModal.tsx

@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ import {
 import { fetchModels } from "@/lib/llmConfig/svc";
 import { toast } from "@/hooks/useToast";
 import { refreshLlmProviderCaches } from "@/lib/llmConfig/cache";
-
-const DEFAULT_API_BASE = "http://localhost:1234";
+import { useSettingsContext } from "@/providers/SettingsProvider";
 
 interface LMStudioModalValues extends BaseLLMModalValues {
   api_base: string;
@@ -109,6 +108,10 @@ export default function LMStudioModal({
 }: LLMProviderFormProps) {
   const isOnboarding = variant === "onboarding";
   const { mutate } = useSWRConfig();
+  const { settings } = useSettingsContext();
+  const defaultApiBase = settings.is_containerized
+    ? "http://host.docker.internal:1234"
+    : "http://localhost:1234";
 
   const onClose = () => onOpenChange?.(false);
 
@@ -118,7 +121,7 @@ export default function LMStudioModal({
       LLMProviderName.LM_STUDIO,
       existingLlmProvider
     ),
-    api_base: existingLlmProvider?.api_base ?? DEFAULT_API_BASE,
+    api_base: existingLlmProvider?.api_base ?? defaultApiBase,
     custom_config: {
       LM_STUDIO_API_KEY: existingLlmProvider?.custom_config?.LM_STUDIO_API_KEY,
     },

web/src/sections/modals/llmConfig/OllamaModal.tsx

@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ import { Card } from "@opal/components";
 import { toast } from "@/hooks/useToast";
 import { refreshLlmProviderCaches } from "@/lib/llmConfig/cache";
 import InputTypeInField from "@/refresh-components/form/InputTypeInField";
-
-const DEFAULT_API_BASE = "http://127.0.0.1:11434";
+import { useSettingsContext } from "@/providers/SettingsProvider";
 const CLOUD_API_BASE = "https://ollama.com";
 
 enum Tab {
@@ -156,6 +155,10 @@ export default function OllamaModal({
 }: LLMProviderFormProps) {
   const isOnboarding = variant === "onboarding";
   const { mutate } = useSWRConfig();
+  const { settings } = useSettingsContext();
+  const defaultApiBase = settings.is_containerized
+    ? "http://host.docker.internal:11434"
+    : "http://127.0.0.1:11434";
   const apiKey = existingLlmProvider?.custom_config?.OLLAMA_API_KEY;
   const defaultTab =
     existingLlmProvider && !!apiKey ? Tab.TAB_CLOUD : Tab.TAB_SELF_HOSTED;
@@ -169,7 +172,7 @@ export default function OllamaModal({
       LLMProviderName.OLLAMA_CHAT,
       existingLlmProvider
     ),
-    api_base: existingLlmProvider?.api_base ?? DEFAULT_API_BASE,
+    api_base: existingLlmProvider?.api_base ?? defaultApiBase,
     custom_config: {
       OLLAMA_API_KEY: apiKey,
     },