Ollama

Ollama is an open-source tool for running large language models locally on your own hardware. It packages model weights, configurations, and runtime into a simple command-line interface, making local LLM deployment accessible to developers.

Ollama supports popular open models including: Llama, Mistral, CodeLlama, Gemma, and many others. Features include: one-command model downloads, OpenAI-compatible API, model customization through Modelfiles, GPU acceleration, and efficient memory usage through quantization. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Local LLMs are valuable for: development and testing without API costs, privacy-sensitive applications, offline use cases, and learning how models work. Engineers should understand trade-offs: local models are smaller and less capable than frontier APIs, but offer control, privacy, and cost benefits. Ollama has become the standard tool for local LLM experimentation.