Ollama won't start

If you're using the local (Ollama) backend, the agent checks whether Ollama is already running and starts it for you automatically if it isn't — you shouldn't normally need to do this step yourself.

When automatic start fails

There are two common reasons:

• Ollama isn't installed. The agent can only start something that already exists on your machine. Install it from ollama.com/download, then try again.
• It's installed somewhere the agent can't find it. This is rare, but if you installed Ollama to a non-standard location, the agent may not locate the command automatically.

Starting it manually

Open a terminal and run:

ollama serve

Leave that window open, then try using the agent again — it'll detect the now-running instance rather than trying to start a second one.

Port already in use

If you see an error about the port already being in use, you likely already have Ollama running from a previous session or a different app. Check what models it already has (ollama list) — you can generally just point the agent at that existing instance rather than troubleshooting further.

Still stuck after 30 seconds

If Ollama starts but doesn't become reachable within about 30 seconds, something's wrong with the install itself rather than the agent's attempt to start it — reinstalling Ollama directly from ollama.com is the fastest fix.