Ollama Desktop — Linux (Ubuntu/GTK)

Native GTK3 + WebKit2GTK desktop app for Ollama on Linux.

This is a Linux port of the official Ollama desktop app (from the main ollama/ollama repo).
The official app ships Windows and macOS binaries only. This port removes that restriction.

Tested on: Ubuntu 26.04 · GNOME 50 · Wayland · NVIDIA RTX 5070

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What it is

• A GTK3 window containing a WebKit2GTK browser rendering Ollama's React frontend
• Talks to your existing Ollama service at localhost:11434 — does not start or manage the Ollama daemon
• Full chat UI: model selection, file attachments, settings, chat history (SQLite)
• Single-instance lockfile, zenity file/folder dialogs, dark mode
• Wayland-native — no XWayland required

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Prerequisites

Runtime

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libgtk-3-0 zenity

Build

sudo apt install \
    libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev \
    golang-go nodejs npm \
    pkg-config git

Go 1.21+ required. Check with go version.

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Build & Install

git clone https://github.com/johnohhh1/ollama-webchat-ubuntu.git
cd ollama-webchat-ubuntu
bash build.sh

The script will:

1. Clone ollama at the pinned tag
2. Apply the Linux port patch
3. Build the React frontend (npm run build)
4. Compile the Go binary

The binary lands at build/ollama-app. Install it:

sudo cp build/ollama-app /usr/local/bin/ollama-app

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Usage

Make sure Ollama is running:

ollama serve   # or: sudo systemctl start ollama

Launch the app:

ollama-app

Or search for it in your application launcher.

Stale lockfile

If the app crashes without cleaning up, delete the lock before restarting:

rm -f ~/.ollama/app.lock && ollama-app

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How the port works

The upstream app/ directory was gated with //go:build windows || darwin on ~40 files. The underlying C webview library (webview.h) already has full GTK/WebKit2GTK Linux support built in — only the Go build tags were blocking Linux compilation.

Changes made

File / Area	Change
~40 app/**/*.go files	Build tag: windows || darwin → windows || darwin || linux
app/webview/webview.go	Added Linux CGo flags: WEBVIEW_GTK, gtk+-3.0, webkit2gtk-4.1
app/cmd/app/app_linux.go	GTK window management, lockfile single-instance, signal cleanup
app/cmd/app/webview_linux.go	Webview struct + JS bindings (show/hide/drag/zoom/file picker)
app/cmd/app/filepicker_linux.go	zenity directory and multi-file choosers
app/server/server_linux.go	Health-check only — never spawns a process, uses existing systemd service
app/updater/updater_linux.go	All no-ops — no auto-update on Linux
app/dialog/dlgs_linux.go	zenity dialogs (yes/no, info, error, file open/save)
app/ui/app/src/components/ChatSidebar.tsx	Settings link was isWindows-gated; fixed to show on Linux too

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Known issues

EGL warnings on startup

On NVIDIA proprietary drivers you'll see Mesa EGL warnings — these are harmless. WebKit falls back to Cairo software rendering for the compositor. For a chat UI this is imperceptible.

libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
libEGL warning: pci id for fd N: 10de:XXXX, driver (null)

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Compatibility

Distro	GTK	WebKit	Status
Ubuntu 26.04	3.24	4.1	Tested
Ubuntu 24.04	3.24	4.1	Should work
Fedora 40+	3.24	4.1	Should work
Arch Linux	3.24	4.1	Should work

Requires webkit2gtk-4.1. Ubuntu 22.04 ships 4.0 only — not compatible without a PPA.

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License

The Ollama desktop app source is MIT licensed (see ollama/ollama). The Linux port files in this repo are also MIT.