Claude Desktop support with Ollama

Ollama announced on August 25, 2026 that Claude Desktop can now be configured to work with Ollama as a third-party gateway provider. According to Ollama, the setup allows developers to use open models in Claude, use cloud models for larger coding and research tasks, run open models directly on a computer, and easily swap back to an existing Claude setup.

The connection is handled through Ollama: users open Ollama and select Claude, then turn Claude on and Ollama configures the third-party gateway. While connected, users can choose any model within Ollama, both local and on Ollama's cloud, the company said. Turning Claude off in Ollama restores the previous setup.

In its FAQ, Ollama said prompts and data are not sent to Anthropic or Ollama. Telemetry is disabled by default, and Ollama states it has a strict Zero Data Retention policy across all of its models and services, whether accessed through its cloud or on a local machine.

Ollama also said users can continue to use Anthropic models, switching between Anthropic models and Ollama by toggling the feature inside Ollama. Local models can be used with the integration by configuring a local model on the Settings page. Ollama directed users to download Ollama to get started.