2026-01-08

Reaching Ollama without an SSH tunnel

A direct HTTP call to port 11434, for when the daemon is already on a public address.

An SSH tunnel is the right tool when the daemon listens on localhost and you want a temporary path from your laptop. It is the wrong tool when the daemon is already published. In that case the client uses the hostname and port in the URL, and nothing else.

The URL is http://host:11434. Chat is POST /api/chat. Generate is POST /api/generate. Tags are GET /api/tags. Set stream to false when you want one JSON object instead of a series of lines. This host's Ollama-style port always returns one JSON object.

There is no tunnel, no ProxyJump, and no key. If the TCP connection succeeds, the HTTP call is the whole setup.

On this host

Skip the tunnel. datattention.com port 11434 is the direct address. No API key.

curl http://datattention.com:11434/api/chat \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"model":"llama3.2","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}],"stream":false}'

The full list of ports and paths is on the endpoints page.