Product
TextGen
TextGen is an open-source AI app, launched in 2022, made for developers and people who don't write code.
A desktop app and web UI for running local LLMs, with chat, vision, tool calling and an API.
Main jobs: Chat and Q&A, Run models locally. It is open source and free to use. You can use it as a desktop app, in the browser, on your own server, offline on your own machine and through an API.
Markdown version of https://godooo.ai/en/product/textgen. Every page on this site has one: add .md to its address.
At a glance
- Type
- Product
- Launched
- 2022
- Galaxy
- Assistants
- Pricing
- Open source, free
- Open source
- Yes · AGPL-3.0
- Source code
- github.com/oobabooga/textgen
- GitHub stars
- 47,701
- How you run it
- Desktop · Web · Self-host · Runs offline · API
- Made for
- Developers · No-code users
- Website
- github.com
- Also known as
- text-generation-webui · oobabooga
What it can do
Chat and Q&Amain jobunconfirmed
“Chat & generation - instruct mode for instruction-following (like ChatGPT), and chat-instruct / chat modes for talking to custom characters.”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Run models locallymain jobunconfirmed
“A desktop app for local LLMs. Open source, no telemetry. Text, vision, tool-calling, web search. UI + API.”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Character chatsupportedunconfirmed
“chat-instruct / chat modes for talking to custom characters”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Image understandingsupportedunconfirmed
“Vision (multimodal) : Attach images to messages for visual understanding”— github.com, 2026-09-24
LLM APIsupportedunconfirmed
“OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible API : Chat, Completions, and Messages endpoints with tool-calling support.”— github.com, 2026-09-24
Web search with answerssupportedunconfirmed
“Tool-calling : Models can call custom functions during chat, including web search, page fetching, and math.”— github.com, 2026-09-24
unconfirmedproposed by a machine, awaiting calibration
Alternatives
- LM StudioFreeAlso does: Run models locally, Chat and Q&A, LLM API
- QwenOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Image understanding
- JanOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, Run models locally, LLM API
- PhiOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, Run models locally, LLM API
- GeminiAlso does: Chat and Q&A, Image understanding, LLM API
- LlamaOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Run models locally
- GLMOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Run models locally
- MixtralOpen source, freeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Run models locally
- WebLLMOpen source, freeAlso does: LLM API, Run models locally, Chat and Q&A
- ClaudeAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Image understanding
- GPTAlso does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Image understanding
- GPT-4Also does: Chat and Q&A, LLM API, Image understanding
Connections
Questions
What is TextGen?
TextGen is an open-source AI app, launched in 2022, made for developers and people who don't write code. A desktop app and web UI for running local LLMs, with chat, vision, tool calling and an API.
Is TextGen free?
Yes. TextGen is open source (AGPL-3.0) and free to use.
Is TextGen open source?
Yes, under the AGPL-3.0 license. The source code is at https://github.com/oobabooga/textgen.
Can TextGen run locally?
Yes. TextGen can run offline on your own machine. It can also be self-hosted on your own server.
What can TextGen do?
Main jobs: Chat and Q&A, Run models locally. It can also do: Character chat, Image understanding, LLM API, Web search with answers.
What are open-source alternatives to TextGen?
Open-source ones: Qwen, Jan, Phi, Llama, GLM, Mixtral and WebLLM. Others: LM Studio, Gemini, Claude, GPT and GPT-4.
Sources
- github.com/oobabooga/textgenchecked 2026-09-24