---

name: add-ollama-provider description: Route a NanoClaw agent group to a local Ollama model instead of the Anthropic API. Ollama speaks the Anthropic API natively (v1/messages), so no provider code changes are needed — just env var overrides and a model setting. Use when the user wants to run their agent locally, cut API costs, or experiment with open-weight models. See docs/ollama.md for background.

Add Ollama Provider

Routes an agent group to a local Ollama instance instead of the Anthropic API. See docs/ollama.md for how this works and the tradeoffs involved.

Prerequisites

1. Ollama is installed and running on the host — verify: curl -s http://localhost:11434/api/tags
2. A model is pulled — e.g. ollama pull gemma4 or ollama pull qwen3-coder
3. The agent group already exists — run /init-first-agent first if needed

1. Check source support

The feature requires two fields in ContainerConfig (env and blockedHosts) and their corresponding wiring in container-runner.ts. Check if already present:

grep -c 'blockedHosts' src/container-config.ts src/container-runner.ts

If either count is 0, apply the changes in steps 1a and 1b. Otherwise skip to step 2.

1a. Extend ContainerConfig

In src/container-config.ts, add to the ContainerConfig interface:

env?: Record<string, string>;
blockedHosts?: string[];

And in readContainerConfig, add inside the returned object:

env: raw.env,
blockedHosts: raw.blockedHosts,

1b. Wire into container-runner

In src/container-runner.ts, after the NANOCLAW_MCP_SERVERS block, add:

// Per-agent-group env overrides — applied last to win over OneCLI values.
if (containerConfig.env) {
  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(containerConfig.env)) {
    args.push('-e', `${key}=${value}`);
  }
}

// Blocked hosts: resolve to 0.0.0.0 so they are unreachable inside the container.
if (containerConfig.blockedHosts) {
  for (const host of containerConfig.blockedHosts) {
    args.push('--add-host', `${host}:0.0.0.0`);
  }
}

1c. Fix home directory permissions (if not already done)

The container may run as your host uid (not uid 1000). Check the Dockerfile:

grep 'chmod.*home/node' container/Dockerfile

If it shows chmod 755, change it to chmod 777 so any uid can write there. Then rebuild the container image: ./container/build.sh

2. Identify the setup

Ask the user (plain text, not AskUserQuestion):

1. Which agent group? List available groups: pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts data/v2.db "SELECT folder, name FROM agent_groups;"
2. Which Ollama model? List available: curl -s http://localhost:11434/api/tags | grep '"name"'
3. Block Anthropic API? Recommended yes — prevents accidental spend if config drifts.

Record as FOLDER, MODEL, and BLOCK_ANTHROPIC.

3. Configure container.json

Read groups/<FOLDER>/container.json. Add (or merge into) an env block and optionally blockedHosts:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:11434",
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "ollama",
    "NO_PROXY": "host.docker.internal",
    "no_proxy": "host.docker.internal"
  },
  "blockedHosts": ["api.anthropic.com"]
}

Omit blockedHosts if the user declined step 2.

Why these vars: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL redirects the Anthropic SDK to Ollama. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=ollama satisfies the SDK's key requirement (Ollama ignores it). NO_PROXY bypasses the OneCLI HTTPS proxy for requests to host.docker.internal so they reach Ollama directly instead of going through the credential gateway.

4. Set the model

Read the agent group's shared Claude settings:

# Find the agent group ID
AG_ID=$(pnpm exec tsx scripts/q.ts data/v2.db "SELECT id FROM agent_groups WHERE folder='<FOLDER>';")
SETTINGS=data/v2-sessions/$AG_ID/.claude-shared/settings.json

Add "model": "<MODEL>" to that settings file. Create the file if it doesn't exist:

{
  "model": "gemma4:latest"
}

If the file already has content, merge the model key in — don't overwrite existing keys.

Why here and not container.json: Claude Code reads its model from its own settings file, not from env vars. This file is bind-mounted into the container as ~/.claude/settings.json.

5. Build and restart

Run from your NanoClaw project root:

export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH"
pnpm run build
source setup/lib/install-slug.sh
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(launchd_label).plist
launchctl load   ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(launchd_label).plist
# Linux: systemctl --user restart $(systemd_unit)

6. Verify

Send a message to the agent. Then confirm:

# Ollama shows the model as active
curl -s http://localhost:11434/api/ps | grep '"name"'

# Container has the right env vars
CTR=$(docker ps --filter "label=nanoclaw-group-folder=<FOLDER>" --format "{{.Names}}" | head -1)
docker inspect "$CTR" --format '{{json .HostConfig.ExtraHosts}}'
docker exec "$CTR" env | grep ANTHROPIC

Expected: api.anthropic.com:0.0.0.0 in ExtraHosts, ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:11434.

Reverting to Claude

To switch back to the Anthropic API:

1. Remove the env and blockedHosts keys from groups/<FOLDER>/container.json
2. Remove "model" from the shared settings file
3. Restart the service

No rebuild needed — both files are read at container spawn time.

Troubleshooting

Agent hangs, no response: Ollama may be loading the model cold (large models take 10–30s). Watch curl -s http://localhost:11434/api/ps — the model appears once loaded.

"model not found" error in container logs: The model name in settings.json doesn't match what Ollama has. Run ollama list on the host and use the exact name shown.

Responses claim to be Claude: The model was trained on data that includes Claude conversations. Add a line to groups/<FOLDER>/CLAUDE.md telling it what model it runs on.

Agent responds but Ollama shows no activity: NO_PROXY may not have taken effect for http_proxy (lowercase). Add both NO_PROXY and no_proxy to the env block.