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Guide

Set up Ollama

Ollama runs a language model on your own machine and serves it over a local API that mi·do·na can talk to. Nothing leaves your computer. It's command-line first and pleasantly minimal - one command pulls a model, and the server runs itself in the background. This is the short version; Ollama's own docs cover the rest.

Get a model running

  1. Download & install Ollama

    Grab the build for your OS from ollama.com/download. macOS and Windows have installers; on Linux it's a one-line install script. Once it's running you'll have the ollama command in your terminal.

  2. Pull a model

    Browse the library at ollama.com/library, then pull one from your terminal:

    Terminal
    ollama pull llama3.1:8b

    If you're unsure, start with something in the 7-8B range that fits your RAM. Bigger models are smarter but heavier.

  3. It's already serving

    Ollama runs a local server in the background as soon as it's installed, listening on port 11434. It exposes an OpenAI-compatible API at http://localhost:11434/v1. Confirm what you've got with ollama list.

  4. Allow browser access (CORS)

    Because mi·do·na runs in your browser, Ollama has to permit browser requests. Set the OLLAMA_ORIGINS environment variable to allow them, then restart Ollama. On macOS:

    Terminal
    launchctl setenv OLLAMA_ORIGINS "*"

    On Windows or Linux, set OLLAMA_ORIGINS=* in your environment and restart the app. To be stricter, use mi·do·na's exact origin instead of *.

Next: connect mi·do·na

With a model pulled and origins allowed, Ollama is ready. Open the connection panel in mi·do·na, point it at http://localhost:11434/v1, and load models. See Connect a model.

Served over HTTPS and can't reach localhost? The browser can block an HTTPS page from talking to http://localhost - most often in Safari. See

Reaching a local model over HTTPS

.

This is a quick-start. For anything deeper, see the official Ollama documentation at github.com/ollama/ollama.