The interface¶

Before you start using the application, let's take a moment to get familiar with the interface and its components.

General overview¶

The interface is organized into four main areas:

• Top bar: title, Ollama status and global controls
• Left sidebar: conversation list
• Central area: the chat itself
• Right sidebar: model selection and settings

Top bar¶

The top bar contains the main application controls:

• Title: "Ollama Easy GUI" - clicking it opens the credits with version, author and license information
• Ollama Status: visual indicator showing whether the Ollama service is active or not
• Global Prompt: opens the editor for instructions that apply to all models (detailed in the Customization chapter)
• Start Ollama: starts the Ollama service if it's not active
• Stop Ollama: stops the Ollama service
• Close App: completely closes the application

Left sidebar¶

The left column manages conversations:

• New button: creates a new conversation
• Conversation list: all saved chats, sorted by date

Clicking on a conversation opens it in the central area.

At the bottom of the sidebar you'll find some statistics:

• Total number of chats
• Total number of messages
• Disk space used

Central area¶

This is the main space where the conversation takes place:

• Chat title: at the top, shows the current conversation name. It's editable text: click on it to rename the chat
• Messages: your messages and the model's responses, in chronological order
• Input area: at the bottom, where you write messages
• Attach button (paperclip): to add files to the conversation
• Send button: sends the message (or press Enter)

On each model response you'll find icons to:

• Copy the text to clipboard
• Export the response in various formats (Markdown, text, Word)

Central area footer¶

At the bottom of the central area you'll find two elements:

• Log: opens the application log viewer, useful for diagnosing problems. Logs are divided by category (App, Chat, MCP, Models). For details see the "Checking the logs" section in the Troubleshooting chapter
• Credits: shows application information (version, author, license)

Right sidebar¶

The right column contains the main settings:

Model selection¶

The AI Model dropdown shows all available models. The model selected here becomes the default for new conversations.

Models with an asterisk (*) after their name have a custom system prompt.

Manage Models button¶

Opens the model management window with two tabs:

• Local Models: models already downloaded to the computer
• Download from Hub: online catalog to download new models

MCP section¶

When you activate the MCP switch, the panel of configured MCP servers appears. Each server shows:

• Name and description
• Connection status: 🟢 connected, 🔴 disconnected, ⚪ disabled
• Enable/Disable button: to activate or deactivate the server

The MCP topic is covered in depth in its dedicated chapter.

Notifications¶

At the bottom of the sidebar, application notifications appear: confirmations of completed operations, warnings and any errors.

Hiding the sidebars¶

On small screens or if you prefer more space for the chat, you can hide both sidebars by clicking the arrows at the edges. The interface adapts to show only the central area.

To reopen a sidebar, click the corresponding arrow again.

Closing the application¶

To close Ollama Easy GUI you have two options:

• Close App in the top bar: closes the application cleanly, stopping all processes
• Close the Command Prompt window: if you launched the app from terminal, closing that window terminates the application