Use Ollama from Other Devices: OLLAMA_HOST, OLLAMA_ORIGINS and Safety
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How we wrote this: A plain-English summary of Ollama's official documentation (FAQ), checked October 29, 2026. Exposing a service changes your security picture; only do it on networks you trust.
The default: this computer only
Ollama's FAQ says the server binds 127.0.0.1, port 11434 by default. Only apps on the same computer can reach it.
Listen on your network: OLLAMA_HOST
Set OLLAMA_HOST to change the bind address. The FAQ's example is 0.0.0.0:11434, which listens on all network interfaces. Then restart Ollama.
- macOS: run
launchctl setenv OLLAMA_HOST "0.0.0.0:11434", then restart the app. - Linux: run
systemctl edit ollama.serviceand addEnvironment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434"under[Service]. Then runsystemctl daemon-reloadandsystemctl restart ollama. - Windows: quit Ollama and add
OLLAMA_HOSTunder Edit environment variables for your account. Then start Ollama again.
Other devices can then use http://<that computer's IP>:11434.
Allow web origins: OLLAMA_ORIGINS
By default, Ollama allows cross-origin requests only from 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0. To let web apps or browser extensions call it, add their origins to OLLAMA_ORIGINS. The FAQ's example allows all Chrome, Firefox and Safari extensions:
OLLAMA_ORIGINS=chrome-extension://*,moz-extension://*,safari-web-extension://* ollama serve
Allowing only the specific extensions you use is the narrower choice.
Be careful
Ollama's local API has no login of its own, so anyone who can reach port 11434 can use your models. Before you change the default:
- Do this only on a network you trust. Keep your firewall on, and don't forward the port on your router; see public Wi-Fi security.
- The FAQ also covers putting Ollama behind a proxy like Nginx, or a tunnel. That's a bigger step; read the FAQ before doing it.
- To keep everything on your own computer, see local-only mode.
Related: Open WebUI, Ollama in Docker, the local API, proxy and startup settings.