Artificial Intelligence (AI) endpoint

Overview

openDesk provides a central configuration for wiring components up to an existing OpenAI-API-compatible AI/LLM endpoint, rather than each application configuring its own.

openDesk does not ship a bundled AI backend of any kind: AI functionality is entirely opt-in and requires operators to bring their own external endpoint, model, and API key.

All central AI wiring is configured in ai.yaml.gotmpl. As with the other functional configuration files described in functional configuration, you override these values via your own environment values file rather than editing the defaults in place.

Coverage

Component	AI features	Config file
Collabora Online	AI-assisted writing inside documents, spreadsheets and presentations	`apps/collabora/values.yaml.gotmpl`
Notes	AI text actions in the collaborative editor	`apps/notes/values.yaml.gotmpl`

No other application (Nextcloud, OpenProject, XWiki, Element/Synapse, Jitsi, CryptPad, OX App Suite) has AI functionality wired up in openDesk today, but more will be added in upcoming releases.

Configuration

ai:
  endpoint: ""
  apiKey:
    value: ""
  model: ""
  allowUserSettings: false

ai.endpoint: Base URL of an external, OpenAI-API-compatible AI endpoint. Leaving this empty (the default) disables AI everywhere; setting it enables AI support in both Collabora Online and Notes at once — there is no separate per-component enable flag.
ai.apiKey.value: API key for the configured endpoint. This is a value-only secret (it only takes the value field, not the create/name/key structure used by other managed secrets) since it is an operator-supplied override that is empty by default; see migrations-manual.md for background on this secret shape.
ai.model: Name/id of the model to request at the endpoint.
ai.allowUserSettings: Lets end users configure their own AI backend, overriding the operator-provided one. Currently only affects Collabora Online. Disabled by default, since it has privacy implications: users could point Collabora at an AI backend of their own choosing, which would then receive their document data.

Enabling AI

Set ai.endpoint, ai.model, and ai.apiKey.value in your environment values file, pointing at your external AI endpoint. Both Collabora Online and Notes pick this up automatically:

Collabora Online translates these values into its native --o:ai.* CoolWSD options (ai.enabled, ai.api_url, ai.model, ai.api_key) and additionally allowlists the endpoint’s hostname via net.lok_allow.host.
Notes feeds the same values into its backend’s configuration.ai block (enabled/apiKey/baseUrl/model), toggling its AI feature on whenever ai.endpoint is non-empty.

Allowing users to configure their own AI backend

Set ai.allowUserSettings: true to let users override the operator-provided AI backend with one of their own choosing, in Collabora Online. Consider the privacy implications noted above before enabling this.

Disabling AI

Leave ai.endpoint unset, or explicitly set it to "" (the default), to keep AI functionality disabled across all components.

Limitations

There is no bundled AI backend — unlike e.g. the bundled ClamAV for malware scanning, AI functionality always requires an externally operated endpoint.
Data sent for AI-assisted features (e.g. document or note content) is transmitted to whichever endpoint is configured. Operators are responsible for choosing an endpoint that meets their compliance and data protection requirements.
When ai.allowUserSettings is enabled, individual users can widen this data-handling surface further by pointing Collabora at a backend of their own choosing.
AI functionality is only wired up for Collabora Online and Notes, as described under Coverage.

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