Securing Your Local Ollama API: Authentication and Network Isolation
TL;DR By default, Ollama exposes its API on localhost:11434 without authentication, making it vulnerable if your network perimeter is breached or if you expose it for remote access. This guide shows you how to lock down your local Ollama deployment using reverse proxies, API keys, and network isolation techniques. Quick wins: Place Nginx or Caddy in front of Ollama with basic auth, restrict API access to specific IP ranges using firewall rules, and run Ollama in a dedicated Docker network or systemd namespace. For multi-user environments, implement token-based authentication using a lightweight auth proxy like oauth2-proxy or Authelia. ...