How can I use a local LLM on my desktop/AI computer?

Hey, thanks for the question.

Right now, Cursor doesn’t support direct connections to local models like Ollama running on localhost. The “Override OpenAI Base URL” option needs a publicly accessible HTTPS endpoint because all requests go through Cursor’s servers to build prompts.

There’s a workaround. You can use tunneling, like ngrok or Cloudflare Tunnel, to expose your local Ollama instance as a public HTTPS endpoint. Then use that URL in Cursor: Settings > Models > Override OpenAI Base URL.

Related discussion: Setup Ollama (local model) in Cursor

The team is aware of requests for native support for local models without tunneling.