Local Ollama

Allow OmniFlows to use your local Ollama models

After installing Ollama, configure its allowed origins so the OmniFlows browser extension can call the local API at http://localhost:11434, then make the setting persist after restart.

01

Understand why CORS must be allowed

OmniFlows runs inside a browser extension, so its requests come from a chrome-extension:// origin. Browsers block that origin from calling http://localhost:11434 unless Ollama explicitly allows it.

  1. OLLAMA_ORIGINS tells Ollama which browser origins are trusted.
  2. chrome-extension://* allows OmniFlows and other browser extensions to call Ollama.
  3. http://localhost:* and http://127.0.0.1:* allow local development pages or tools to use the same Ollama service.
02

Configure macOS

On macOS, Ollama usually runs as a desktop app. Put the environment variable in Ollama's application support configuration, then fully quit and reopen the app.

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Ollama
nano ~/Library/Application\ Support/Ollama/environment.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>ollama.environment</string>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>OLLAMA_ORIGINS</key>
        <string>chrome-extension://*,http://localhost:*,http://127.0.0.1:*</string>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>
  1. Save the file, then quit Ollama from the menu bar icon.
  2. Open Ollama again so it starts with the new allowed origins.
  3. If Ollama is set to launch at login, the setting will be applied automatically after future restarts.
03

Configure Linux

On Linux, Ollama commonly runs as a systemd service. Add the environment variable to the service override, reload systemd, and restart Ollama.

sudo systemctl edit ollama.service
[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_ORIGINS=chrome-extension://*,http://localhost:*,http://127.0.0.1:*"
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ollama
  1. Keep the override under the [Service] section.
  2. After restart, the Ollama service stays in the background with the CORS setting applied.
  3. The same configuration is loaded automatically after the next Linux reboot.
04

Configure Windows and verify

On Windows, make OLLAMA_ORIGINS a persistent user or system environment variable, then fully quit and relaunch Ollama from the Start menu or by restarting the computer.

  1. Press Win + R, run sysdm.cpl, then open Advanced > Environment Variables.
  2. Create OLLAMA_ORIGINS with the value chrome-extension://*,http://localhost:*,http://127.0.0.1:*.
  3. Quit Ollama from the system tray, then launch it again so it reads the new variable.
  4. Verify with curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags, then select Ollama in OmniFlows and connect to http://localhost:11434.

For more information, see: https://github.com/ollama/ollama