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Configuration

FLASH CLI is configured entirely through environment variables. Values are read once at startup from your shell environment and from an optional .flash.env file in your home directory.

Where configuration is loaded from

  1. Real environment variables (highest priority).
  2. A .flash.env file in your home directory (~/.flash.env, e.g. C:\Users\<you>\.flash.env on Windows).

If a variable is set in both places, the real environment variable wins.

Example ~/.flash.env:

MODEL=llama3.1
OLLAMA_HOST=http://localhost:11434

Backend

FLASH uses Ollama as its backend. It does not require an API key. Instead, it connects to an Ollama server over HTTP — either on your own machine (the default) or on another host.

Requirements:

  • An Ollama server must be running and reachable at OLLAMA_HOST.
  • The model named in MODEL must already be pulled on that server (ollama pull <model>).
  • For tool calling (shell / web search / OS info) to work, choose a model that supports tools, such as llama3.1.

Options

Variable Required Default Minimum Description
MODEL Yes — — Name of the Ollama model to use, e.g. llama3.1, qwen2.5, mistral. Must be pulled on the target server.
OLLAMA_HOST No http://localhost:11434 — Base URL of the Ollama server. Change this to switch from a local server to a remote one.
MAX_HISTORY_MESSAGES No 6 2 Maximum number of chat messages kept in memory before the oldest are dropped.
MAX_HISTORY_CHARS No 3000 1000 Maximum total characters of history kept. Older messages are dropped once this is exceeded.
MAX_TOOL_ROUNDS No 10 1 Maximum number of tool-calling rounds allowed per request.
MAX_TOOL_OUTPUT_CHARS No 1200 500 Tool output longer than this is truncated (middle removed) before being sent back to the model.
MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS No 1024 128 Maximum tokens the model may generate per response. Maps to Ollama's num_predict option.

Notes on the numeric options

  • All numeric options are clamped to their listed Minimum. For example, setting MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=10 is treated as 128.
  • Non-integer or empty values fall back to the listed Default.

Switching between local and remote servers

The backend is switched purely with OLLAMA_HOST.

Local (default)

Leave OLLAMA_HOST unset, or set it explicitly:

MODEL=llama3.1
OLLAMA_HOST=http://localhost:11434

Remote server

Point FLASH at another machine running Ollama:

MODEL=llama3.1
OLLAMA_HOST=http://192.168.1.50:11434

Or a server behind a hostname / reverse proxy:

MODEL=llama3.1
OLLAMA_HOST=https://ollama.example.com

When using a remote server:

  • Ensure the Ollama server is started with network access enabled (for example by setting OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434 on the server so it listens on all interfaces).
  • Ensure any firewall allows access to the Ollama port (default 11434).
  • Ensure the model in MODEL has been pulled on that server.

Verifying the active configuration

Inside FLASH, run:

/model

This prints the active model and the Ollama host FLASH is connected to.