In January 2026, Ollama added support for the Anthropic Messages API, enabling Claude Code to connect directly to any Ollama model. This tutorial explains how to install Claude Code, pull and run local models using Ollama, and configure your environment for a seamless local coding experience. support for the Anthropic Messages API Installing Ollama Ollama is a locally deployed AI model runner that lets you download and run large language models on your own machine. It provides a command-line interface and an API, supports open models such as Mistral and Gemma, and uses quantization to make models run efficiently on consumer hardware. A model file allows you to customise base models, system prompts, and parameters (temperature, top-p, top-k). Running models locally gives you offline capability and protects sensitive data. Ollama model file To use Claude Code with local models, you need Ollama v0.14.0 or later. The January 2026 blog notes that this version implements Anthropic Messages API compatibility. For streaming tool calls (used when Claude Code executes functions or scripts), a pre-release such as 0.14.3‑rc1 may be required. Ollama v0.14.0 or later 0.14.3‑rc1 curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh After installation, verify the version with ollama version. ollama version. Pulling a model Choose a local model suitable for coding tasks. You can see the full list on https://ollama.com/search website. Pulling a model downloads and configures it. For example: https://ollama.com/search https://ollama.com/search # Pull the 20 B parameter GPT‑OSS model
ollama pull gpt-oss:20b # Pull the 20 B parameter GPT‑OSS model
ollama pull gpt-oss:20b # Pull Qwen Coder (a general coding model)
ollama pull qwen3-coder # Pull Qwen Coder (a general coding model)
ollama pull qwen3-coder To use Claude Code’s advanced tool features locally, the article Running Claude Code fully local recommends GLM-4.7-flash because it supports tool-calling and provides a 128K context length. Pull it with: Running Claude Code fully local GLM-4.7-flash ollama pull glm-4.7-flash:latest ollama pull glm-4.7-flash:latest Installing Claude Code Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic coding tool. It can read and modify files, run tests, fix bugs, and even handle merge conflicts across your entire code base. It uses large language models to act as a pair of autonomous hands in your terminal, letting you vibe-code (describing what you want in plain language and letting the AI generate the code). Claude Code vibe-code curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash From your terminal, run: export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=ollama
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434 export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=ollama
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434 # Launch the integration interactively
ollama launch claude # Launch the integration interactively
ollama launch claude Then you will see the model list that you installed in the previous step. Select the one you want to test, then hit Enter. Press enter or click to view image in full size And that’s it! Now your Claude code works with Ollama and local models. Video Tutorial https://youtu.be/COpg79ab6ug?si=8sSpPzd0xwYctiFJ&embedable=true https://youtu.be/COpg79ab6ug?si=8sSpPzd0xwYctiFJ&embedable=true Watch on YouTube: Claude Code with Ollama Watch on YouTube: Claude Code with Ollama Watch on YouTube: Claude Code with Ollama Claude Code with Ollama Claude Code with Ollama Summary By pairing Claude Code with Ollama, you can run agentic coding workflows entirely on your own machine. Don’t expect the same experience as with the Anthropic models! Claude Code Ollama Experiment with different models and share with me which one worked the best for you! Cheers! ;)

Walkthroughs, tutorials, guides, and tips. This story will teach you how to do something new or how to do something better.

YouTube

How to Run Claude Code With Local Models Using Ollama

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

10 Git Commands Senior Devs Should Know (and Use Daily)

Claude Code Is Teaching Developers to Be Their Own Tech Leads

Two Hours With Cursor Changed How I See AI Coding

The Case for Version-Controlling Your AI

Claude Code Cracks Down on Power Users With New Weekly Limits

Claude Code Bets on Spec-Driven Development to Deliver More Reliable AI Software

10 Git Commands Senior Devs Should Know (and Use Daily)

Claude Code Is Teaching Developers to Be Their Own Tech Leads

Two Hours With Cursor Changed How I See AI Coding

The Case for Version-Controlling Your AI

Claude Code Cracks Down on Power Users With New Weekly Limits

Claude Code Bets on Spec-Driven Development to Deliver More Reliable AI Software

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps