How to Use a Remote Ollama or llama.cpp Server From a Desktop AI App on Your Mac in 2026
Your MacBook Air has 16 GB of memory. The PC under your desk, or the Mac Studio in the office, has a big GPU and already runs Ollama or llama-server with a 30B model loaded. You want to chat with that model from your Mac, in a proper app with chat history, documents and thinking controls, without c
Posted on Oct 25 • Originally published at getoffgridai.co
Your MacBook Air has 16 GB of memory. The PC under your desk, or the Mac Studio in the office, has a big GPU and already runs Ollama or llama-server with a 30B model loaded. You want to chat with that model from your Mac, in a proper app with chat history, documents and thinking controls, without copying a 20 GB file to a laptop that cannot run it. Off Grid AI Desktop connects your Mac to that server. Its models show up next to your local ones, and the chat tells you which server answers and what it is waiting for.
Your Mac does not need to download the model. The model runs in the other computer's memory, and your Mac sends text over your network.
Both servers listen only on the computer they run on by default. Open them to your network first.
Ollama listens on port 11434. On the server, set OLLAMA_HOST to 0.0.0.0 and restart Ollama. If the server is a Mac running the Ollama app, run this in Terminal on that Mac, then quit and reopen Ollama:
launchctl setenv OLLAMA_HOST "0.0.0.0" Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode llama.cpp listens on port 8080. Start llama-server with --host:
llama-server -m qwen3.5-27b-q4_k_m.gguf --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode If the server's firewall asks whether to allow incoming connections, allow them. Only do this on a network you trust, or add an API key to the server.
The app saves a server only after you pick at least one model. If you skip that, it says "Test the connection and select at least one model first."
For a llama.cpp server, you also see Allow screen images. It stays off until you turn it on, and it controls whether Web Use and Computer Use may send screenshots of your Mac to that server. Normal chat does not need it.
Open a new chat with Cmd+T. Open the model picker in the chat: the server's models carry a Remote tag, next to the models on your Mac. Pick one and type.
While you chat, the app reports the remote model truthfully:
You can save more than one server, for example Ollama on a gaming PC and llama-server on a Mac Studio. Each one has its own Use this server switch, so you can turn one off without touching the others. Turning one off moves chat, image, voice or transcription only to a server that offers a model for it. Picking an image model on one server does not move your chat to that server.
If a server is off or removed while a chat uses it, the chat says so. It does not quietly answer with a different model.
Use Change model next to a saved server to pick a different model from its list, and Remove to delete it.
If the other computer runs Off Grid AI Desktop, use its gateway at port 7878 instead of Ollama. That server tells your Mac what a request is waiting for, and the chat shows it: "Waiting for Office PC · 2 ahead" when other people are in line, or "Office PC is loading" and the model name while it loads. Ollama and llama.cpp do not send this, so with them the chat shows "Waiting for the model server..." until the first words arrive. See how to run a local AI server for your whole team on your Mac.
Can I use Ollama running on another computer from my Mac? Yes. Set OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0 on the server, then add http://<server-ip>:11434 under Settings > Remote model server in Off Grid AI Desktop. The server's models appear in the model picker with a Remote tag.
Does Off Grid AI Desktop work with llama.cpp's llama-server? Yes. Start llama-server with --host 0.0.0.0 and add http://<server-ip>:8080 as a server. The app reads the server's context window and thinking support from llama-server itself.
Do I need to download the model to my Mac? No. The model stays on the server. Your Mac sends the conversation over the network and shows the reply.
Can I switch between local and remote models? Yes. Local and remote models sit in the same model picker. Pick a local model for offline work and a remote one when you are on the same network as the server.
Is it free? Yes. Remote servers are part of the free Off Grid AI Desktop app on Mac, with no account.