A pretty face for Ollama that keeps all chatter local

What it does

Ollama GUI is a Vue.js frontend that talks directly to your local Ollama instance. It renders conversations with full Markdown support, stores chat history in the browser’s IndexedDB, and offers a dark mode. The app itself is just static files; all inference stays on your machine.

The interesting bit

The project is essentially polished glue code over Ollama, and the deployment story highlights the awkward dance of connecting a static web app to a local API. The development server includes a proxy to sidestep CORS, but that proxy disappears in production builds, leaving you to configure Ollama origins, run a reverse proxy, or deploy the bundled container setup to keep the two services on speaking terms.

Key highlights

• Chat history persists locally via IndexedDB—no server-side database required.
• Renders Markdown messages and code blocks cleanly.
• Ships with a Docker Compose configuration that bundles the UI and Ollama together.
• Design borrows from LangUI; built with Vue, Vite, and Tailwind CSS.
• A live demo is hosted on Vercel, though it still requires a local Ollama backend with proper CORS headers.

Caveats

• The built-in development proxy does not survive production builds, so self-hosting requires extra CORS or reverse-proxy legwork unless you deploy the bundled container setup.
• Mobile-responsive design is still on the roadmap and not yet implemented.
• No built-in model browser or file upload support yet; pulling models is still handled outside the UI.

Verdict

Worth a look if you want a lightweight, good-looking chat layer over Ollama and do not mind managing CORS rules or a container stack. If you need a turnkey, mobile-friendly solution with cloud sync, this is not it.