Set Up Ollama as a Free Local AI Provider in Your Drupal DDEV Environment

Staff Reporter

This detailed guide by Rakesh J. explains how Drupal developers can use Ollama as a free, local AI provider. It targets developers using DDEV on macOS, offering step-by-step instructions to install and run Ollama outside DDEV containers. Users can locally run AI models like llama3.2 or deepseek-r1, avoiding paid API tokens.

The tutorial includes optional integration via the ddev-ollama add-on, simplifying container-based model access. Key configuration steps involve downloading the ai and ai_provider_ollama modules via Composer and applying a patch for Drupal 11 compatibility. Admins then configure the AI provider settings to link with Ollama’s local service.

Finally, users can interact with models via Drupal’s AI Explorer interface. This setup supports broader local AI use cases like content generation. While the instructions are practical, the article lacks broader context on performance, security, or model limitations.

Reference: How to Set Up Ollama as a Free, Local AI Provider for Your local Drupal Development by Rakesh J. (21 July 2025)

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