Ollama and Claude

Use an Ollama model from Claude Code or an Anthropic SDK through DurinDoor. You need a local Ollama connection, a DurinDoor key, and an Ollama model that supports the tasks you plan to run.

Connect Ollama

1. Start Ollama and confirm http://localhost:11434/api/tags lists your installed model.
2. On Providers, add an Ollama Local connection. Set its host URL if Ollama runs on another host or port.
3. Find the ollama-local/<model> ID in GET /v1/models.
4. Configure Claude Code to call DurinDoor, or use an Anthropic SDK with base URL http://localhost:20128.

Claude Code uses ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:20128/v1. Keep the Ollama host on the provider connection, rather than putting port 11434 in the client settings.

Send a test

Replace llama3.2 with an installed model ID:

curl http://localhost:20128/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_DURINDOOR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "ollama-local/llama3.2",
    "max_tokens": 64,
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello."}]
  }'

A successful response contains Anthropic message content. Confirm the request on Usage. Then test tools and streaming if your client needs them.

Transport limits

Anthropic-format requests use Ollama's /v1/messages transport. Other client formats use /api/chat. DurinDoor preserves native Claude block order, removes unsupported cache_control, and converts remote images to base64. Guarded image fetches reject private, loopback, and link-local destinations.

Streaming stays Anthropic SSE. A stream that ends before message_stop is treated as truncated rather than successful.

Existing ollama cloud connections use https://ollama.com/v1/messages and Bearer authentication. The cloud provider is hidden from new connection creation. Local Ollama does not require a key; a saved key is sent as Bearer.

Troubleshoot

If Docker cannot reach Ollama, use a host gateway or compose service name instead of container localhost. Store a host origin on the connection to avoid duplicate upstream paths. If curl works but Claude Code fails, inspect its settings and shell for a stale Anthropic token. A successful short reply does not prove tools or a larger context work on that model.