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Ollama not running - silent failure with misleading UI #12

Description

@daveshenal

Describe the bug

  • When Ollama is not running, the Models page shows an empty model list with a "download models" prompt, implying no models are installed. When the user tries to pull a model it silently fails with no error message.

Expected behavior

  • On startup, detect if Ollama is reachable at localhost:11434
  • If not reachable, show a clear message: "Ollama is not running. Please start Ollama and restart Outpost." or similar
  • Disable model download and chat until Ollama is detected
  • Optionally: poll every few seconds and auto-recover when Ollama comes online

Steps to reproduce

  • Make sure Ollama is not running
  • Open Outpost
  • Go to Models page - shows empty list with install prompt
  • Try to pull a model - silently fails

Affected files

  • frontend/src/pages/ModelsPage.jsx - needs Ollama status check
  • frontend/src/store.js - fetchModels swallows errors silently
  • backend/server.py - /models endpoint returns empty list on Ollama failure with no status indicator

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