Vane can’t reach Ollama?
Fix the connection.

Why Vane can’t connect to Ollama

The Vane troubleshooting notes describe an Ollama connection error as the Vane backend being unable to reach Ollama’s API. With the recommended Docker setup, Vane runs inside a container while Ollama usually runs directly on your computer. They are on different network interfaces, so an address that works in your browser may not work for Vane.

Most failures come down to one of these:

Check that Ollama works on the host

Rule out Ollama itself before changing Vane. On the computer running Ollama, list the models it has downloaded:

ollama list

If the command fails, start Ollama first. If the list is empty, download a model before connecting Vane. Note the exact model name, including its tag; you will need it later.

curl http://localhost:11434

A running Ollama server answers on its API port. This only proves Ollama is reachable from the host itself, not from inside the Vane container.

Use the right Ollama API URL in Vane

Open Vane’s settings and check the Ollama API URL. The Vane README gives these addresses for Ollama running on the Docker host:

Change 11434 if Ollama uses a different port. On Linux, replace the placeholder with your computer’s private network address. You can list the host’s IPv4 addresses with:

ip -4 addr show

Choose your private LAN address, commonly in a range such as 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, not 127.0.0.1. A DHCP-assigned address can change; if the connection breaks later, check it again.

Linux: let Ollama accept connections from Docker

By default, Ollama listens on the loopback address, so requests from the container are refused even when the URL is right. The Vane README’s fix for a systemd installation is to add this line to the [Service] section of /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service:

Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434"

Then reload systemd and restart Ollama:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ollama

Editing files under /etc and managing services usually require administrator rights; sudo is our addition. Change the port if you use a different one. On Windows and macOS, follow Ollama’s OS-specific server configuration instructions if you need to change OLLAMA_HOST.

Firewall and safety

The Vane README asks you to make sure the Ollama port, 11434 by default, is not blocked by your firewall. If Vane still times out with the correct URL and listen address, check your host firewall rules for that port.

“You haven’t configured any chat model providers”

If you use a local server with an OpenAI-compatible API, such as llama-server, and Vane reports that no chat model providers are configured, the Vane README lists three things to check:

1. The server listens on 0.0.0.0, not 127.0.0.1, and on the same port you entered in the API URL.
2. The model name matches the model your local server has actually loaded.
3. The API key is correct. If your server does not use one, enter any placeholder value; do not leave the field empty.

The same Docker networking rules apply: from inside the container, use host.docker.internal on Windows and macOS, or the host’s private IP on Linux. Our llama.cpp setup notes cover the Base URL format and how to check the served model ID.

Lemonade connection errors

The README’s Lemonade notes follow the same pattern with a different default port, 8000:

• Windows and macOS: http://host.docker.internal:8000
• Linux: http://<private_ip_of_host>:8000
• Make sure the Lemonade server is running and accepts connections on 0.0.0.0, not only 127.0.0.1.
• Make sure the port is not blocked by your firewall, with the same safety limits described above.

Sources and editorial notes

• Vane — Ollama connection errors
• Vane — local OpenAI-API-compliant servers
• Vane — Lemonade connection errors
• Ollama — configuring the Ollama server

This independent guide is not affiliated with the Vane project. If these steps do not solve the problem, open an issue in the Vane repository with your operating system, versions, API URL, and a short log excerpt. Remove API keys and personal data before sharing logs.