Notes for macOS and Linux¶

This manual was written for Windows, but Ollama Easy GUI should also work on macOS and Linux. Here are the main differences.

macOS¶

Installing prerequisites¶

Ollama: Download from ollama.ai, the procedure is similar to Windows.

Git: Usually already installed. Verify with:

git --version

xcode-select --install

Node.js: Download from nodejs.org or install via Homebrew:

brew install node

Differences in operation¶

• Use Terminal instead of Command Prompt
• Paths use / instead of \
• The application folder could be ~/Applications/ollama-easy-gui

Starting the application¶

cd ~/Applications/ollama-easy-gui
npm start

Linux¶

Installing prerequisites¶

Ollama: Follow instructions on ollama.ai for your distribution.

Git: Install via package manager:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install git

# Fedora
sudo dnf install git

# Arch
sudo pacman -S git

Node.js: Install via package manager or use nvm:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install nodejs npm

# Or with nvm (recommended)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
nvm install --lts

Differences in operation¶

• Use the terminal of your distribution
• Paths use /
• Permissions might require sudo for some operations

Starting the application¶

cd ~/ollama-easy-gui
npm start

Common differences¶

Known problems¶

Ollama not reachable¶

On some Linux configurations, Ollama might listen only on localhost. Verify with:

curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

Permission errors¶

If you get permission errors, make sure your user has access to the installation folder:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ~/ollama-easy-gui

Not tested¶

The following features have not yet been tested on macOS and Linux:

• Auto-start of Ollama
• .bat file (Windows-specific, would need a .sh version for Unix)
• Some MCP server paths

If you encounter problems, open an issue on GitHub reporting your operating system and the error found.