Using local AI in the AI side panel.

Firefox's AI side panel currently does not work like a general AI client where you can simply point it at any local model running on your computer. It mainly supports the AI providers and models that Firefox has integrated.

If you want to use a local model, you usually need to run it through something that provides a compatible API (for example, a local AI server), but Firefox's built-in AI panel may not have a setting to connect to custom endpoints yet.

A workaround is to use a separate local AI interface, such as running your model through an app like Ollama, LM Studio, or a web-based chat interface, and keep it open alongside Firefox.

If Mozilla adds support for custom/local models in the future, it would likely be through the AI settings area, but at the moment there does not appear to be a direct "add my own model" option in the Firefox sidebar.

but Firefox's built-in AI panel may not have a setting to connect to custom endpoints yet..

This is what I was asking for yeah, I have Ollama (others like LM Studio, llama.cpp, etc. are available) running, I'd just like to interact with it the same as as I do with other AI models in the side panel.

So there's no such option at the moment? I was kind of expecting that FireFox would first implement a way to interact with local models and then add others which some might find more objectionable.

Thank you for your reply, I guess we just have to wait.

Thank you for the guidance! I can't seem to get it working on my machine, but the person in the thread you shared got it working so it should be the correct solution.