A terminal-based chat interface for Ollama, built with Textual. Run multiple conversations simultaneously, switch between models on the fly, manage multiple Ollama servers, and get streaming responses with real-time markdown rendering — all without leaving the terminal.
- Multi-conversation sidebar — Maintain several independent conversations at once, each with its own model and message history
- Model switching — Change the active model from the top dropdown mid-session; carry the conversation history over or start fresh depending on the persistence toggle
- Multi-server management — Save multiple named Ollama server configurations and switch between them from the Settings panel; connection is validated before a server is added
- Per-server system prompts — Each server stores its own system prompt, which is automatically injected at the start of every conversation on that server
- Streaming responses — Responses stream in token by token with live markdown rendering and smart auto-scroll (only follows the bottom if you're already there)
- Server info & model management — View server status, connection health, and active model details; browse all installed models and delete them directly from the UI
- Conversation summary — Generate an AI summary of any conversation using the currently selected model
- Persistent config — Server list, active server, and system prompts are saved to
~/.ollamatermui/config.jsonand restored on launch - Persistent conversations — All conversations are automatically saved to
~/.ollamatermui/conversations/and restored on launch, scoped per server; conversations whose model is no longer installed reopen as read-only
- Python 3.10+
- An Ollama server running and accessible on your network with at least one model pulled
- The dependencies listed in
requirements.txt:
textual
requests
pip install -r requirements.txtpython ollamatermui.pyOn first launch the app defaults to http://localhost:11434. Open the Settings panel (⚙ button, top-left) to add your Ollama server URL and give it a name. The app will test the connection before saving. Your server list is persisted to ~/.ollamatermui/config.json and loaded automatically on every subsequent launch.
- New Conversation — Opens a new chat with the currently selected model
- Conversation list — Click an entry in the sidebar to switch to it; conversations are restored automatically on every launch
- Delete Conversation — Click the red Delete Conversation button inside the chat area (confirmation required)
- Read-only conversations — If a conversation's model has been uninstalled, it reopens in read-only mode with a warning; the history is still viewable and can be summarized
Select a model from the dropdown at the top. The Convo Persist toggle controls what happens next:
| Persist | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| ON | The current message history carries over to the newly selected model |
| OFF | A brand new conversation is started with the selected model |
Click the gear icon in the top-left to open Settings.
Servers tab:
- The table lists all saved servers; the active one is marked with
● - Select a row and click Set Active to switch to a different server — the model list reloads automatically
- Test & Add tests connectivity before adding a new server; invalid or unreachable URLs are rejected
- The last remaining server cannot be deleted
System Prompt:
- Each server has its own system prompt, shown and editable below the server table
- Switching "Set Active" to a different server swaps the textarea to that server's prompt
- The system prompt is injected silently at the start of every new message; it does not appear in the conversation history
Settings are saved to ~/.ollamatermui/config.json when you click Save. Renaming a server preserves its conversation history automatically.
Click the info icon inside the status bar to open the server panel:
- Live connection status and server version
- Active model details: family, parameter count, quantization level, disk size
- Full list of all models installed on the server
- Select a model row and click Delete to remove it from the server (confirmation required)
The Summarize Conversation button appears in the sidebar once a conversation has at least one message. Clicking it sends the current conversation to the active model and displays a summary in a modal. The button is disabled on empty conversations.