Have 'Open in Browser' check sensible defaults before complaining 'No valid ports are available'

[rpm0372]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Sometimes desiring isolation makes us prefer not mapping ports to the container host.
Currently, when I right-click a container in the VS Code ContainerTools (ms-azuretools.vscode-containers ver 2.1.0) and select "Open in Browser", a notification appears saying ''No valid ports are available'. The container runs a website without any port mappings.

Describe the solution you'd like

I'd like the extension to check sensible defaults before complaining that no valid ports are available. Specifically:
Is the container listening on port 443?
Yes = point the browser to HTTPS://<container's IP>
No =
Is the container listening on port 80?
Yes = point the browser to HTTP://<container's IP>
No = Now you can complain 'No valid ports are available'.

Describe alternatives you've considered

This is what I do now: bookmark the site in my browser so I can manually launch my browser and manually select the bookmark.

Alternatively, Feature #148, prompting for a port and remembering it for that container would also suffice nicely.

Thank you for considering this feature request!

[bwateratmsft]

Can you share the output of inspecting the container? You can redact anything sensitive. Also, can you share the output for that container from docker container ls --format "{{json .}}"?

The way browseContainer.ts works is by looking at the ports--if there's only one, the choice is obvious, if there are multiple it tries to choose based on some common web ports. It should be able to open by the container IP address, assuming the port is actually open in the container--but it sounds like it is, if https://<container IP>:443 works.

[bwateratmsft]

Relatedly, trying this I found microsoft/vscode-docker-extensibility#292 which we'll need to fix too. Your inspect might fail if you do it in the Container Explorer UI, so if that doesn't work try just doing it from the command line.

[rpm0372]

Creation

docker network create --scope local --driver bridge --ipam-driver default --subnet 10.11.43.0/24 --gateway 10.11.43.1 ollama
docker run -d --gpus=all --name llm-webui-ollama --network ollama --ip 10.11.43.4 -v ollama:/root/.ollama -v open-webui:/app/backend/data -e OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434 -e PORT=80 -e ENV=prod -e "WEBUI_URL=http://10.11.43.4" ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:ollama

container ls

docker container ls --format "{{json .}}"

{
    "Command": "\"bash start.sh\"",
    "CreatedAt": "2025-09-04 15:38:18 -0400 EDT",
    "ID": "ffa65358f425",
    "Image": "ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:ollama",
    "Labels": "org.opencontainers.image.created=2025-08-28T10:40:44.660Z,org.opencontainers.image.description=User-friendly AI Interface (Supports Ollama, OpenAI API, ...),org.opencontainers.image.licenses=NOASSERTION,org.opencontainers.image.revision=2407d9b905978d68619bdce4021e424046ec8df9,org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui,org.opencontainers.image.title=open-webui,org.opencontainers.image.url=https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui,org.opencontainers.image.version=main-ollama",
    "LocalVolumes": "2",
    "Mounts": "open-webui,ollama",
    "Names": "llm-webui-ollama",
    "Networks": "ollama",
    "Ports": "8080/tcp",
    "RunningFor": "12 minutes ago",
    "Size": "42MB (virtual 8.35GB)",
    "State": "running",
    "Status": "Up 12 minutes (healthy)"
}

inspect

docker inspect llm-webui-ollama

[
    {
        "Id": "ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3",
        "Created": "2025-09-04T19:38:18.744737038Z",
        "Path": "bash",
        "Args": [
            "start.sh"
        ],
        "State": {
            "Status": "running",
            "Running": true,
            "Paused": false,
            "Restarting": false,
            "OOMKilled": false,
            "Dead": false,
            "Pid": 9910,
            "ExitCode": 0,
            "Error": "",
            "StartedAt": "2025-09-04T19:38:19.11025962Z",
            "FinishedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "Health": {
                "Status": "healthy",
                "FailingStreak": 0,
                "Log": [
                    {
                        "Start": "2025-09-04T15:38:49.11615364-04:00",
                        "End": "2025-09-04T15:38:49.223184745-04:00",
                        "ExitCode": 0,
                        "Output": "true\n"
                    },
                    {
                        "Start": "2025-09-04T15:39:19.224080164-04:00",
                        "End": "2025-09-04T15:39:19.308563512-04:00",
                        "ExitCode": 0,
                        "Output": "true\n"
                    }
                ]
            }
        },
        "Image": "sha256:c3594234d1be95a71d95c61150947665819aab30b85f4cbdee9b36f0895c8a92",
        "ResolvConfPath": "/var/lib/docker/containers/ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3/resolv.conf",
        "HostnamePath": "/var/lib/docker/containers/ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3/hostname",
        "HostsPath": "/var/lib/docker/containers/ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3/hosts",
        "LogPath": "/var/lib/docker/containers/ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3/ffa65358f425622e5c9a025c98770d751468050ad566ad5bac1ce33a73fec9b3-json.log",
        "Name": "/llm-webui-ollama",
        "RestartCount": 0,
        "Driver": "overlay2",
        "Platform": "linux",
        "MountLabel": "",
        "ProcessLabel": "",
        "AppArmorProfile": "docker-default",
        "ExecIDs": null,
        "HostConfig": {
            "Binds": [
                "ollama:/root/.ollama",
                "open-webui:/app/backend/data"
            ],
            "ContainerIDFile": "",
            "LogConfig": {
                "Type": "json-file",
                "Config": {}
            },
            "NetworkMode": "ollama",
            "PortBindings": {},
            "RestartPolicy": {
                "Name": "no",
                "MaximumRetryCount": 0
            },
            "AutoRemove": false,
            "VolumeDriver": "",
            "VolumesFrom": null,
            "ConsoleSize": [
                13,
                183
            ],
            "CapAdd": null,
            "CapDrop": null,
            "CgroupnsMode": "private",
            "Dns": [],
            "DnsOptions": [],
            "DnsSearch": [],
            "ExtraHosts": null,
            "GroupAdd": null,
            "IpcMode": "private",
            "Cgroup": "",
            "Links": null,
            "OomScoreAdj": 0,
            "PidMode": "",
            "Privileged": false,
            "PublishAllPorts": false,
            "ReadonlyRootfs": false,
            "SecurityOpt": null,
            "UTSMode": "",
            "UsernsMode": "",
            "ShmSize": 67108864,
            "Runtime": "runc",
            "Isolation": "",
            "CpuShares": 0,
            "Memory": 0,
            "NanoCpus": 0,
            "CgroupParent": "",
            "BlkioWeight": 0,
            "BlkioWeightDevice": [],
            "BlkioDeviceReadBps": [],
            "BlkioDeviceWriteBps": [],
            "BlkioDeviceReadIOps": [],
            "BlkioDeviceWriteIOps": [],
            "CpuPeriod": 0,
            "CpuQuota": 0,
            "CpuRealtimePeriod": 0,
            "CpuRealtimeRuntime": 0,
            "CpusetCpus": "",
            "CpusetMems": "",
            "Devices": [],
            "DeviceCgroupRules": null,
            "DeviceRequests": [
                {
                    "Driver": "",
                    "Count": -1,
                    "DeviceIDs": null,
                    "Capabilities": [
                        [
                            "gpu"
                        ]
                    ],
                    "Options": {}
                }
            ],
            "MemoryReservation": 0,
            "MemorySwap": 0,
            "MemorySwappiness": null,
            "OomKillDisable": null,
            "PidsLimit": null,
            "Ulimits": [],
            "CpuCount": 0,
            "CpuPercent": 0,
            "IOMaximumIOps": 0,
            "IOMaximumBandwidth": 0,
            "MaskedPaths": [
                "/proc/asound",
                "/proc/acpi",
                "/proc/kcore",
                "/proc/keys",
                "/proc/latency_stats",
                "/proc/timer_list",
                "/proc/timer_stats",
                "/proc/sched_debug",
                "/proc/scsi",
                "/sys/firmware",
                "/sys/devices/virtual/powercap"
            ],
            "ReadonlyPaths": [
                "/proc/bus",
                "/proc/fs",
                "/proc/irq",
                "/proc/sys",
                "/proc/sysrq-trigger"
            ]
        },
        "GraphDriver": {
            "Data": {
                "LowerDir": "/var/lib/docker/overlay2/f21721a879825cbd6dddeca969ff429d142b3d5d4fde37691dc584ab7368d363-init/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/715b16c8cb7d6ab8d953089dc562a42c37d4fb31c6df5c43f240984ad2912ca3/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/730eb0fbf206842a1306ec833ac37ce02fb8fb1ad31ce326cd00dcbdc00f3832/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/181639a66d301e2b8498f5af50b09874a4bb27333f2477dbc979d6480c6cf382/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/c92e22f1303897b1e25bfddd4377fe132de16e471b561dfb2c45f2f6a9cc7c04/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/0d8a9b071bee20d9570d1ed126608b39c4dc76e624fec6b1d8d4da9f1d4a568a/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/bec54c37e704f042418395b6a0e08a53a5b56d27d98a3694fba45129b98a021e/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/e0cc11fd3577199f43af554e1c8f75844a7f1411a1a082d4b37052721edf4374/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/0276d2274a530a4d3bfed0e03e7747c29a0a699a723ffa18f0e8ce902dbd1cc3/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/9c0bb6563eb9486bc7a369d6f188f5d09488578e39dd57bf8777dddfc6f9725f/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/63ae109bc7eb0a36515142cc434100bce24867d870dd592a1d6e9ddabb13ec3d/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/ed4276de083b8298b907b24b7d8f180484599c273c1b568bf4bb7d34cba681f0/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/c72db57670e758a9520d72a2f43a6c73365acc4323eb3d1ee24c46435be327bf/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/3e74189bbda3ee6e8f1a14105ed5e3ea400739000d607e6d2007ffc31c37f85a/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/9af4afdcbc06874c38a9a70482bf01db13d09eeeb5c6f4db7f72de893b7f40ad/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/7b70dc262957e154b73ec116864217cc5d94c2f37888f985d2754163b86a59dd/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/d2c8d6d26fe1dc0061c9dab774d923c1e0c544948b95d7f301fbcdf99e43137e/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/a92ad9ce70bac957e3b05ffbc72791678d92d417383dfd0d1357a2ad7adac102/diff:/var/lib/docker/overlay2/9fa6ed165c7d0053defd154a36757d743db74ca97eeabc713c3273ef00d6f45a/diff",
                "MergedDir": "/var/lib/docker/overlay2/f21721a879825cbd6dddeca969ff429d142b3d5d4fde37691dc584ab7368d363/merged",
                "UpperDir": "/var/lib/docker/overlay2/f21721a879825cbd6dddeca969ff429d142b3d5d4fde37691dc584ab7368d363/diff",
                "WorkDir": "/var/lib/docker/overlay2/f21721a879825cbd6dddeca969ff429d142b3d5d4fde37691dc584ab7368d363/work"
            },
            "Name": "overlay2"
        },
        "Mounts": [
            {
                "Type": "volume",
                "Name": "ollama",
                "Source": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/ollama/_data",
                "Destination": "/root/.ollama",
                "Driver": "local",
                "Mode": "z",
                "RW": true,
                "Propagation": ""
            },
            {
                "Type": "volume",
                "Name": "open-webui",
                "Source": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/open-webui/_data",
                "Destination": "/app/backend/data",
                "Driver": "local",
                "Mode": "z",
                "RW": true,
                "Propagation": ""
            }
        ],
        "Config": {
            "Hostname": "ffa65358f425",
            "Domainname": "",
            "User": "0:0",
            "AttachStdin": false,
            "AttachStdout": false,
            "AttachStderr": false,
            "ExposedPorts": {
                "8080/tcp": {}
            },
            "Tty": false,
            "OpenStdin": false,
            "StdinOnce": false,
            "Env": [
                "ENV=prod",
                "OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434",
                "WEBUI_URL=http://10.11.43.4",
                "PORT=80",
                "PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
                "LANG=C.UTF-8",
                "PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.13",
                "PYTHON_SHA256=8fb5f9fbc7609fa822cb31549884575db7fd9657cbffb89510b5d7975963a83a",
                "USE_OLLAMA_DOCKER=true",
                "USE_CUDA_DOCKER=false",
                "USE_SLIM_DOCKER=false",
                "USE_CUDA_DOCKER_VER=cu128",
                "USE_EMBEDDING_MODEL_DOCKER=sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
                "USE_RERANKING_MODEL_DOCKER=",
                "OLLAMA_BASE_URL=/ollama",
                "SCARF_NO_ANALYTICS=true",
                "DO_NOT_TRACK=true",
                "ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY=false",
                "WHISPER_MODEL=base",
                "WHISPER_MODEL_DIR=/app/backend/data/cache/whisper/models",
                "RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL=sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
                "RAG_RERANKING_MODEL=",
                "SENTENCE_TRANSFORMERS_HOME=/app/backend/data/cache/embedding/models",
                "TIKTOKEN_ENCODING_NAME=cl100k_base",
                "TIKTOKEN_CACHE_DIR=/app/backend/data/cache/tiktoken",
                "HF_HOME=/app/backend/data/cache/embedding/models",
                "HOME=/root",
                "WEBUI_BUILD_VERSION=2407d9b905978d68619bdce4021e424046ec8df9",
                "DOCKER=true"
            ],
            "Cmd": [
                "bash",
                "start.sh"
            ],
            "Healthcheck": {
                "Test": [
                    "CMD-SHELL",
                    "curl --silent --fail http://localhost/health | jq -ne 'input.status == true' || exit 1"
                ]
            },
            "Image": "ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:ollama",
            "Volumes": null,
            "WorkingDir": "/app/backend",
            "Entrypoint": null,
            "OnBuild": null,
            "Labels": {
                "org.opencontainers.image.created": "2025-08-28T10:40:44.660Z",
                "org.opencontainers.image.description": "User-friendly AI Interface (Supports Ollama, OpenAI API, ...)",
                "org.opencontainers.image.licenses": "NOASSERTION",
                "org.opencontainers.image.revision": "2407d9b905978d68619bdce4021e424046ec8df9",
                "org.opencontainers.image.source": "https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui",
                "org.opencontainers.image.title": "open-webui",
                "org.opencontainers.image.url": "https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui",
                "org.opencontainers.image.version": "main-ollama"
            }
        },
        "NetworkSettings": {
            "Bridge": "",
            "SandboxID": "5a607cd84c220cca36501f3d2f04c2d850f65a2814d2234bc848cc4faa7bddd3",
            "SandboxKey": "/var/run/docker/netns/5a607cd84c22",
            "Ports": {
                "8080/tcp": null
            },
            "HairpinMode": false,
            "LinkLocalIPv6Address": "",
            "LinkLocalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
            "SecondaryIPAddresses": null,
            "SecondaryIPv6Addresses": null,
            "EndpointID": "",
            "Gateway": "",
            "GlobalIPv6Address": "",
            "GlobalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
            "IPAddress": "",
            "IPPrefixLen": 0,
            "IPv6Gateway": "",
            "MacAddress": "",
            "Networks": {
                "ollama": {
                    "IPAMConfig": {
                        "IPv4Address": "10.11.43.4"
                    },
                    "Links": null,
                    "Aliases": null,
                    "MacAddress": "02:42:0a:0b:2b:04",
                    "NetworkID": "4b7686fbb666ab0cf5bd4aff7c544dfcfd78141177b44cbc2b50d1417be68378",
                    "EndpointID": "5e15ecc7ca93fb4bc6103bfb73c6901ae9adc0d217d617ed79aa45049eb050f9",
                    "Gateway": "10.11.43.1",
                    "IPAddress": "10.11.43.4",
                    "IPPrefixLen": 24,
                    "IPv6Gateway": "",
                    "GlobalIPv6Address": "",
                    "GlobalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
                    "DriverOpts": null,
                    "DNSNames": [
                        "llm-webui-ollama",
                        "ffa65358f425"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    }
]

My 2¢

I do use container IPs in scripts. I guess this works only because they have a single IP assigned.

~$ docker inspect -f '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' llm-webui-ollama
10.11.43.4

[bwateratmsft]

Can you share more about your OS and runtime setup? Usually the host cannot reach containers by IP.

(Side note, mostly note to self: There is an additional problem in that docker container ls --format "{{json .}}" does not include the container's IP address. We would have to inspect the container to get it, which is certainly possible but not something we are doing today.)

[rpm0372]

Happy to do whatever would be useful.

~$ cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.1
ID=debian

~$ uname -a
Linux tesla 6.12.43+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.43-1 (2025-08-27) x86_64 GNU/Linux

~$ docker --version 
Docker version 26.1.5+dfsg1, build a72d7cd

~$ code --version
1.103.2
6f17636121051a53c88d3e605c491d22af2ba755
x64

BTW, vscode is apt installed from https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=linux-deb-x64, not flatpak or anything like that.

[bwateratmsft]

Thanks! I was able to get this scenario to work on a GitHub Codespace which I think just uses plain-old Docker CE.