# Open WebUI v0.12.4 — Release & Upgrade Intelligence
- **Product:** Open WebUI (https://openwebui.com)
- **Version:** v0.12.4
- **Released:** Oct 25, 2026
- **Impact Score:** 5/10
- **Breaking Changes:** Not verified
- **Canonical Analysis:** https://changelogs.us/open-webui/updates/v0.12.4/

## Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Open WebUI v0.12.4. Source highlight: 🎯 **Load selected skills on demand.** Administrators can turn on "Load selected skills on demand" under Admin Settings > General or set "ENABLE_SKILL_LAZY_LOADING", so skills selected in the chat or attached to a model are only listed for the model to load when it needs them instead of sending their

## New Features
- 🎯 **Load selected skills on demand.** Administrators can turn on "Load selected skills on demand" under Admin Settings > General or set "ENABLE_SKILL_LAZY_LOADING", so skills selected in the chat or attached to a model are only listed for the model to load when it needs them instead of sending their full instructions with every message, while skills mentioned in the message still load right away, and it is off by default and needs the built-in Skills tool. Commit
- 📍 **Compaction shown in chats.** A "Context compacted" line now marks the message where older messages were summarized, opens to show the summary and also appears inside a reply when compaction ran between its tool calls, Chat Controls > Overview tags that message, and compaction progress and errors now show in the chat instead of as pop-up notices. Commit, Commit, Commit, Commit, #31324
- 🗜️ **Compaction in more chats.** Context compaction now also runs in temporary chats and in short chats that are already over the threshold, such as one question with a reply full of tool output, so the follow-up and any regenerate or edit of it no longer fail with a context length error. #32794, Commit, #32781, Commit, #32600
- 🕶️ **Hide controls for users.** Administrators can now hide single controls from users under Visible controls in Admin Settings > Interface or with "UI_VISIBILITY", such as model capabilities, default features and built-in tools in the model editor, Capture, Compare text, Attach Webpage, Attach Files, Attach Notes, Attach Knowledge and Reference Chats in the + menu, the /status, /model and /settings commands, the usage info, Fork, Merge Responses, Preview, Artifacts, Archive and Tags in chats, S
- 🫙 **Unavailable options hidden.** Options that cannot take effect are now hidden, such as Capture in the + menu without a Vision model, Attach Notes for users without the Notes permission, the Valves pickers in Chat Controls for disabled tools and functions, the Context Compaction Threshold while context compaction is off, the title, follow-up and tag generation switches in Settings > Interface while the admin has turned them off, Compress Images in Channels for users who cannot use channels, th
- 🔏 **Access button respects sharing.** The Access button and menu entry of models, prompts, tools, knowledge, skills and notes and the Access button in folder settings are now hidden from users without the matching sharing permission, who had nothing they could change in its dialog. #32979, Commit, #32830

## Bug Fixes
- 🛡️ **Security Advisory**: This release contains **security fixes**. We **strongly recommend updating** all deployments **as soon as possible** to have the latest security fixes in place. These fixes are **not listed in this changelog**; we will publish the security advisories for them immediately following CVE assignment. Advisories
- 📤 **Chat export permission respected.** The Export item of a folder in the sidebar, the Export option in Archived Chats and the Copy option in the chat menu are now hidden from users without the Allow Chat Export permission, like the export options of single chats. #32703, Commit, #32702, #32684, Commit, #32683, #32960, Commit
- 🎛️ **Pipe Valves permission respected.** The Valves button of a pipe model in the chat input is now hidden from users without the Allow Chat Valves permission. #32772, Commit, #32771
- 👥 **One model without Multiple Models.** A new chat now starts with a single model for users without the Multiple Models permission, where a default or a link with several models kept them all selected. #32668, Commit, #32667
- 🖊️ **Chat Edit permission respected.** The Edit button of a user's own messages is now hidden from users without the Allow Chat Edit permission, where only the Edit button of replies was hidden. #32841, Commit, #32832
- 📅 **Calendar page respects access.** Opening the Calendar page with Calendar turned off or without the Calendar permission now returns to the home page, where it showed an empty calendar and an error. #32837, Commit, #32834