LibreChat + Gonka AI — open-source ChatGPT

LibreChat is an open-source ChatGPT clone with support for multiple LLM providers simultaneously. Switch between models in one interface: Gonka, OpenAI, Anthropic, local models. Plus: plugins, preset prompts, multi-user support, Docker deployment.

LibreChat supports both OpenAI-compatible APIs and Anthropic API. JoinGonka Gateway provides both formats—/v1/chat/completions (OpenAI) and /v1/messages (Anthropic)—with a single key. Connection is a single line in .env.

Result: a powerful ChatGPT alternative for your team for $0.001/1M tokens, with support for both API formats.

Step 1: Deploy LibreChat

Docker Compose — recommended installation method:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/danny-avila/LibreChat.git
cd LibreChat

# Copy the env file
cp .env.example .env

JoinGonka API key: register at gate.joingonka.ai/register, get 10M free tokens, create key jg-xxx.

Step 2: Configure Gonka as a provider

Edit the .env file in the LibreChat root:

# .env
OPENAI_API_KEY=jg-your-key
OPENAI_REVERSE_PROXY=https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1/chat/completions
OPENAI_MODELS=Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8

Run:

docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:3080 — LibreChat is ready.

Multi-modality: LibreChat allows connecting multiple providers. You can leave the native OpenAI API for specific tasks, add a local model via Ollama, and use Gonka as the main cheap provider — all in one interface.

For advanced configuration, use librechat.yaml:

# librechat.yaml
endpoints:
  custom:
    - name: "Gonka"
      apiKey: "jg-your-key"
      baseURL: "https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1"
      models:
        default:
          - "Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8"
      titleConvo: true
      titleModel: "Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8"

LibreChat vs Open WebUI

The two best self-hosted ChatGPT interfaces — let's compare:

Parameter	LibreChat	Open WebUI
Multimodality	Built-in (UI switching)	Built-in
Plugins	Yes (ecosystem)	Yes (extensions)
RAG	Via plugins	Built-in
Docker	docker compose	Single container
Interface	Maximally similar to ChatGPT	Its own style
Community	30K+ GitHub stars	40K+ GitHub stars
Setup	.env + librechat.yaml	UI + env

Both work great with JoinGonka Gateway. LibreChat is closer to ChatGPT in UX and better for teams with multiple providers. Open WebUI is simpler to deploy (single container) and has built-in RAG. The choice is a matter of preference.

Model parameters via JoinGonka: context window — 128K tokens, maximum response length — 2048 tokens. For longer responses, you can connect additional providers in LibreChat.

LibreChat + Gonka = ChatGPT-clone with multi-modality for $0.001/1M tokens. Open-source, Docker-deploy, plugins. One line in .env — and your team has their own ChatGPT.

← Open WebUI + Gonka AI - your own ChatGPT API quick start — curl, Python, TypeScript →

Want to learn more?

Explore other sections or start earning GNK right now.

Get 10M free tokens →