I believe power users or developers can already use this from CLI in Linux. This new app for Windows and MacOS shows this is intended for regular users.
if im being honest i care more about multiple local ai apps on my desktop all hooking into the same ollama instance rather than all downloading their own models as part of the app so i have like multiple 10s of gbs of repeated weights all over the place because apps dont talk to each other
No one should use ollama. A cursory search of r/localllama gives plenty of occassions where they've proven themselves bad actors. Here's a 'fun' overview
There are multiple (far better) options - eg LM studio if you want GUI, llama.cpp if you want the CLI that ollama ripped off. IMO the only reason ollama is even in the conversation is it was easy to get running on macOS, allowing the SV MBP set to feel included
I'm sad this post is greyed out. I think it's a fair take.
Other critical takes say the same thing, but wrapped in far more variations of: "definitely not judging/criticising/being negative, but I don't like this."
This is clearly a new direction for Ollama, but I can't find anything at the link explaining or justifying why they're doing it, and that makes me uncomfortable as an existing regular Ollama user.
I think this move does deserves firmer feedback like yours.
Off-topic I suppose but the llama artwork looks quite good, and stylistically consistent between pieces. I wonder if it was done by a human artist or if generative models are just that good now.
There's also Jan AI, which supports Linux, MCP, any Vulkan GPU, any Llama.cpp-compatible model, and optionally multiple cloud models as well. That seems like a better solution than this.
I've been on something of a quest to find a really good chat interface for LLMs.
Most import feature for me is that I want to be able to chat with local models, remote models on my other machines, and cloud models (OpenAI API compatible). Anything that makes it easier to switch between models or query them simultaneously is important.
Here's what I've learned so far:
* Msty - my current favorite. Can do true simultaneous requests to multiple models. Nice aesthetic. Sadly not open source. Have had some freezing issues on Linux.
* Jan.ai - Can't make requests to multiple models simultaneously
* LM Studio - Not open source. Doesn't support remote/cloud models (maybe there's a plugin?)
* GPT4All - Was getting weird JSON errors with openrouter models. Have to explicitly switch between models, even if you're trying to use them from different chats.
Still to try: Librechat, Open WebUI, AnythingLLM, koboldcpp.
Wow, is it a coincidence that every comment that says anything negative about ollama gets downvoted/flagged into oblivion? what is going on in this thread?
Looks like a big pivot on target audience from developers to regular users, at least on the homepage https://ollama.com/ as a product. Before, it was all about the CLI versions of Ollama for devs, now it's not even mentioned. At the bottom of the blog post it says:
> For pure CLI versions of Ollama, standalone downloads are available on Ollama’s GitHub releases page.
Nothing against that, just an observation.
Previously I tested several local LLM apps, and the 2 best ones to me were LM Studio [1] and Msty [2]. Will check this one out for sure.
One missing feature that the ChatGPT desktop app has and I think is a good idea for these local LLM apps is a shortcut to open a new chat anytime (Alt + Space), with a reduced UI. It is great for quick questions.
This doesn't appear to indicate whether the model is running locally, so I assume it's not. I'll continue to run Ollama locally in my terminal on the rare occasions that I see a use for it.
Im surprised it took this long. I vibe coded the same interface last year using electron... just not Ollama because there are just better architectures/pipelines...
I gave the Ollama UI a try on Windows after using the CLI service for a while.
- I like the simplicity. This would be perfect for setting up a non-technical friend or family member with a local LLM with just a couple clicks
- Multimodal and Markdown support works as expected
- The model dropdown shows both your local models and other popular models available in the registry
I could see using this over Open WebUI for basic use cases where one doesn't need to dial in the prompt or advanced parameters. Maybe those will be exposed later. But for now - I feel the simplicity is a strength.
Update 2: I've been using the new Ollama desktop UI on Windows for a couple days now (released 4 days ago).
- I still appreciate the simplicity to the point where I use it more the Open WebUI - no logins, no settings, just chat
- I wish the model select in the chat box was either moved or was more subtle, currently it visually draws interest to something that doesn't change much
- Chat summaries sometimes overflow in the chat history area
- Small nit but the window uses the default app icon on Windows rather than the Ollama icon
I am somewhat surprised that this app doesn't seem to offer any way to connect to a remote Ollama instance. The most powerful computer I own isn't necessarily the one I'm running the GUI on.
If you’re a power user of these LLMs and have coding experience, I actually recommend just whipping together your own bespoke chat UI that you can customize however you like. Grab any OpenAI compatible endpoint for inference and a frontend component framework (many of which have added standard Chat components) - the rest is almost trivial. I threw one together in a week with Gemini’s assistance and now I use it every day. Is it production ready? Hell no but it works exactly how I want it to and whenever I find myself saying “I wish it could do XYZ…” I just add it.
I’ve been building a Swift app [1], compatible with OpenAI APIs, easy model switching across providers, and with hotkeys for OS integration to capture text and images. It’s far more minimal than most other LLM frontends I’ve tried, but it’s been sticky for me.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 83.5 ms ] threadEdit: I hope I'm wrong about this. Thanks for clarifying.
Also is there a link to the source?
> For pure CLI versions of Ollama, standalone downloads are available on Ollama’s GitHub releases page.
Sound like closed source. Plus, As I check, the app seem to be tauri app, as it use system webview instead of chromium.
if im being honest i care more about multiple local ai apps on my desktop all hooking into the same ollama instance rather than all downloading their own models as part of the app so i have like multiple 10s of gbs of repeated weights all over the place because apps dont talk to each other
what does it take for THAT to finally happen
Its finally the push I need to move away. I predict ollama will only get worse from here on.
https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui
Curious how this compares to that, which has a ton of features and runs great
https://docs.openwebui.com/license/
Nice because it works on any text. Browser, IDE, email etc.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1kg20mu/so_why_...
There are multiple (far better) options - eg LM studio if you want GUI, llama.cpp if you want the CLI that ollama ripped off. IMO the only reason ollama is even in the conversation is it was easy to get running on macOS, allowing the SV MBP set to feel included
Trying to match the even larger local front end ecosystem is just a waste of energy.
Other critical takes say the same thing, but wrapped in far more variations of: "definitely not judging/criticising/being negative, but I don't like this."
This is clearly a new direction for Ollama, but I can't find anything at the link explaining or justifying why they're doing it, and that makes me uncomfortable as an existing regular Ollama user.
I think this move does deserves firmer feedback like yours.
Most import feature for me is that I want to be able to chat with local models, remote models on my other machines, and cloud models (OpenAI API compatible). Anything that makes it easier to switch between models or query them simultaneously is important.
Here's what I've learned so far:
* Msty - my current favorite. Can do true simultaneous requests to multiple models. Nice aesthetic. Sadly not open source. Have had some freezing issues on Linux.
* Jan.ai - Can't make requests to multiple models simultaneously
* LM Studio - Not open source. Doesn't support remote/cloud models (maybe there's a plugin?)
* GPT4All - Was getting weird JSON errors with openrouter models. Have to explicitly switch between models, even if you're trying to use them from different chats.
Still to try: Librechat, Open WebUI, AnythingLLM, koboldcpp.
Would love to hear any other suggestions.
I built my own Ollama macOS app written in SwiftUI: https://github.com/sheshbabu/Chital
Launches fast and weighs less than 2MB in size!
> For pure CLI versions of Ollama, standalone downloads are available on Ollama’s GitHub releases page.
Nothing against that, just an observation.
Previously I tested several local LLM apps, and the 2 best ones to me were LM Studio [1] and Msty [2]. Will check this one out for sure.
One missing feature that the ChatGPT desktop app has and I think is a good idea for these local LLM apps is a shortcut to open a new chat anytime (Alt + Space), with a reduced UI. It is great for quick questions.
[1] https://lmstudio.ai/
[2] https://msty.app/
> b. a commercial license must be obtained from the producer if you want to develop and distribute a derivative work based on LobeChat.
- I like the simplicity. This would be perfect for setting up a non-technical friend or family member with a local LLM with just a couple clicks
- Multimodal and Markdown support works as expected
- The model dropdown shows both your local models and other popular models available in the registry
I could see using this over Open WebUI for basic use cases where one doesn't need to dial in the prompt or advanced parameters. Maybe those will be exposed later. But for now - I feel the simplicity is a strength.
- I still appreciate the simplicity to the point where I use it more the Open WebUI - no logins, no settings, just chat
- I wish the model select in the chat box was either moved or was more subtle, currently it visually draws interest to something that doesn't change much
- Chat summaries sometimes overflow in the chat history area
- Small nit but the window uses the default app icon on Windows rather than the Ollama icon
I'll stick with OpenWebUI then.
[1]: https://www.wvlen.llc/apps/tomo