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install ollama

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Agent Integration

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Please tutor me in this lesson using the following context. First, read the instructions at: https://courses.thefocus.ai/llms.txt My Student ID is: <none> The lesson markdown source is at: https://courses.thefocus.ai/run-ai-locally/01-getting-started/01-install-ollama.md

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01 — Install Ollama

Download Ollama

Go to ollama.com and click Download. You’ll get a .zip file. Double-click it, then drag the Ollama application to your Applications folder.

Open Ollama from Applications. You should see a little llama icon appear in your menu bar. That means it’s running.

Verify it works by opening Terminal and running:

ollama --version

You should see something like ollama version is 0.x.x.

The Ollama CLI

Ollama has a few important commands you’ll use throughout this course:

ollama pull <model>     # Download a model
ollama list             # Show models you've downloaded
ollama run <model>      # Start an interactive chat with a model
ollama rm <model>       # Delete a model to free space

Choose and Download a Model

Which model should you pick? Here’s a guide:

Your RAMRecommended ModelPull Command
8GBnemotron-3-nanoollama pull nemotron-3-nano
16GBgemma4:26bollama pull gemma4:26b
32GB+qwen3:30b-a3bollama pull qwen3:30b-a3b

For this course, we’ll use gemma4:26b in all examples. If you’re using a different model, just substitute the name.

Pull the model:

ollama pull gemma4:26b

This will take a while — the model is about 15GB. Go get a coffee. ☕

When it finishes, verify:

ollama list

You should see gemma4:26b in the list.

Memory Pressure — The Metric That Matters

Open Activity Monitor (find it in Spotlight with ⌘+Space). Click the Memory tab.

At the bottom is a graph labeled Memory Pressure. This tells you how hard your computer is working to manage RAM.

  • Green = plenty of headroom. Your model fits comfortably.
  • Yellow = getting tight. The model is using most of your RAM.
  • Red = you’re out of RAM. Everything is slow. The model is too big.

The goal: pick the smartest model that keeps your memory pressure green during a chat.

Keep Activity Monitor open while you use Ollama. Watch the pressure graph as you run prompts. If it spikes to yellow or red, try a smaller model.

What You’ve Learned

  • Ollama runs as a background service (menu bar icon)
  • You pull models with ollama pull <name>
  • Model size matters — bigger models are smarter but need more RAM
  • Memory pressure is your dashboard for picking the right model

Next: 02 — Your First Prompt →