Skip to main content
Ollama is experimental. Review quality is significantly lower than Claude or GPT-4o. Use only if your environment cannot make external API calls.
Ollama lets you run open-source models locally. This provider is designed for air-gapped environments where no external API access is possible.

​
When to use Ollama

  • Your network has no outbound internet access
  • Security policy prohibits sending code to external LLM APIs
  • You want to evaluate MergeWatch without any API keys

​
Configuration

Set these environment variables in your .env file or container environment:
VariableRequiredValue
LLM_PROVIDERYesollama
LLM_MODELYesOllama model tag (e.g., qwen2.5-coder:7b, llama3). The Ollama provider has no built-in default — you must pick a model that you’ve pulled into the Ollama server.
OLLAMA_BASE_URLNoOllama API endpoint (default: http://localhost:11434)

​
Picking a model

You must set LLM_MODEL to a model tag that you’ve pulled into your Ollama server. There is no built-in default. Suggested starting points:
ModelBest forApprox VRAM
qwen2.5-coder:7bCode-focused reviews on an 8 GB GPU~6–8 GB
qwen2.5-coder:14bBetter review quality if you have 16 GB VRAM~12–16 GB
llama3General-purpose baseline for quick smoke tests~4–8 GB

​
Setup

Pull the model before starting MergeWatch — MergeWatch will not pull it for you: 
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b
Verify the model is available: 
ollama list

​
Docker Compose setup

Run Ollama as a sidecar alongside MergeWatch:
docker-compose.yml
services:
  mergewatch:
    image: ghcr.io/santthosh/mergewatch:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    env_file: .env
    environment:
      LLM_PROVIDER: ollama
      LLM_MODEL: qwen2.5-coder:7b
      OLLAMA_BASE_URL: http://ollama:11434
    depends_on:
      - ollama

  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama:latest
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    volumes:
      - ollama-data:/root/.ollama
    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: 1
              capabilities: [gpu]

volumes:
  ollama-data:
After starting the stack for the first time, exec into the Ollama container to pull the model:
docker compose exec ollama ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b

​
Hardware requirements

ComponentMinimumRecommended
GPU VRAM8 GB16 GB
System RAM16 GB32 GB
Disk10 GB free20 GB free
Larger models like qwen2.5-coder:14b produce better reviews but require 16 GB VRAM. If you have the hardware, set LLM_MODEL=qwen2.5-coder:14b for improved quality.

​
Next steps

Air-gapped deployment

Full guide for deploying MergeWatch without internet access.

Anthropic (direct)

The recommended provider for the best review quality.

Configure review behavior

Tune sensitivity, ignored paths, and review focus areas.

Environment variables

Full list of supported environment variables.