Ollama Connectivity and Network Exposure

Ollama is an HTTP inference service. Prompts, model metadata, and compute capacity cross this boundary, so its listener must match the intended trust scope. Ollama listens on loopback by default; `OLLAMA_HOST` changes that listener. Docker's `host-gateway` alias resolves to a host address that containers can use.

Choose one of the following profiles. Do not broaden the listener merely to clear a connection-refused error.

Local API Outside Docker

Keep Ollama on its default loopback listener when Fortemi also runs directly on the host:

OLLAMA_BASE=http://127.0.0.1:11434
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:11434/api/version

Loopback does not accept connections from normal Docker bridge networks. That is expected and is the least-exposure configuration for a host-only process.

Compose-Managed Local Workstation

For a Docker-based development workstation, prefer the compose-managed Ollama service:

./workstation up --backend-only
./workstation models pull

Fortemi reaches Ollama over the private compose network at `http://ollama:11434`. The optional host port is published only on `127.0.0.1` by default. A non-loopback `FORTEMI_OLLAMA_BIND_ADDR` is an explicit shared-listener decision and requires the controls in Remote or Shared Ollama.

Linux Docker to Host Ollama

The headless bundle uses `host.docker.internal`, mapped through Docker's `host-gateway` feature. On Linux, the gateway defaults to an address on Docker's default bridge, but it can be configured by the Docker daemon. Do not hard-code a common bridge address.

Inspect the address Docker will use:

HOST_GATEWAY_IP="$(
  docker network inspect bridge \
    --format '{{(index .IPAM.Config 0).Gateway}}'
)"
test -n "${HOST_GATEWAY_IP}"
printf 'Docker host gateway: %s\
' "${HOST_GATEWAY_IP}"

Configure the host Ollama systemd service to listen only on that address:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service.d
printf '[Service]\
Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=%s:11434"\
' \
  "${HOST_GATEWAY_IP}" |
  sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service.d/override.conf >/dev/null
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ollama

This changes a host network listener. Review the printed address before running the `sudo` commands. The Fortemi installer reports this recipe but does not apply it.

Verify both sides:

# The listener must show the selected gateway address, not a wildcard.
sudo ss -ltnp 'sport = :11434'

# The bundle already supplies the host-gateway mapping.
docker compose -f docker-compose.bundle.yml exec fortemi \
  curl -fsS --max-time 3 \
  http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/version

If `host-gateway` is customized, rootless Docker is in use, or policy forbids a host listener on the bridge, keep Ollama on loopback and use an access-controlled reverse proxy. Allow only the Fortemi container subnet or host, and set `OLLAMA_BASE` to that proxy URL.

Remote or Shared Ollama

Treat a shared Ollama server as a protected inference service:

1. Bind Ollama to one specific private or service interface. 2. Restrict port `11434` with the host/network firewall to known Fortemi clients. 3. Prefer a TLS reverse proxy with authentication or mTLS. Ollama's native API should not be exposed directly to an untrusted network. 4. Apply request concurrency, body-size, timeout, and rate controls at the proxy or scheduler. An authorized client can still exhaust GPU memory, CPU, or model-loading capacity. 5. Set Fortemi's outbound destination policy for the exact proxy origin; that separate boundary is owned by issue `#920`.

Example with a private listener:

OLLAMA_HOST=<PRIVATE_SERVICE_IP>:11434 ollama serve

Example Fortemi configuration through an authenticated TLS proxy:

OLLAMA_BASE=https://ollama.internal.example

Verify the server certificate and access control from the Fortemi host before enabling background embedding jobs. Do not include credentials in the URL or logs.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Deployment	Ollama listener	Fortemi URL	Expected exposure
Both processes on host	`127.0.0.1:11434`	`http://127.0.0.1:11434`	Host loopback only
Compose-managed workstation	Compose network; host port on `127.0.0.1`	`http://ollama:11434`	Compose peers plus host loopback
Linux bundle to host Ollama	Exact Docker host-gateway address	`http://host.docker.internal:11434`	Docker gateway only
Intentional shared service	Specific private/service address or protected proxy	Approved `https://` proxy URL	Firewall/proxy allowlist

The Ollama FAQ documents the default loopback listener and `OLLAMA_HOST`. Docker documents `host-gateway` and the `host.docker.internal` compose mapping.