Use local Ollama models with Kimchi

In this tutorial, you'll pull a lightweight local model with Ollama, start Kimchi, and verify that the model is automatically discovered and available for coding tasks. You'll then use it directly from the model picker and as a delegated role in multi-model mode.

This tutorial is intended for those who want to run inference locally. Whether to work offline, reduce API costs where possible, or experiment with open-weight models. It assumes you have:

• Kimchi Coding installed and authenticated; see Getting started if not
• Basic familiarity with the terminal

By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to:

• Pull and serve a local model with Ollama
• Confirm Kimchi discovers it automatically on startup
• Select it manually from the model picker
• Understand how it fits into Kimchi's multi-model role system

Background

Kimchi probes a locally-running Ollama server on every startup. If Ollama is running and has models installed, they are automatically registered under an ollama provider and appear in the /model picker as ollama/<model-name>. No edits to configuration files are needed. See Local Ollama Models in the CLI reference for full details on the probe, host configuration, and capability detection.

Before you start

Install Ollama from ollama.com if you haven't already. Verify the installation:

ollama --version

Pull and serve a local model

Use your Ollama model

Select it manually from the model picker

To switch to your Ollama model for the current session, run /model from the Kimchi prompt and pick it from the list:

/model

Your model appears as ollama/llama3.2:1b (or whichever model you pulled). Selecting it routes all messages in the session to that model.

This is the most direct way to use a local model.

Multi-model role assignment

When Kimchi runs in multi-model mode, it automatically includes discovered Ollama models in the explorer, reviewer, and builder role pools. This happens at startup without any configuration — keeping Ollama running is all that's required.

Ollama models are never assigned to the orchestrator, planner, or judge roles.

What to expect

Once Kimchi discovers your Ollama model:

• It appears in /model picker as ollama/<model-name>
• It is registered in ~/.config/kimchi/harness/models.json under the ollama provider
• It is available in the explorer, reviewer, and builder pools for multi-model tasks
• When Ollama goes offline, the model is automatically removed from models.json on the next startup

Next steps