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Vixlo 0.1

Local only, and which route a sentence takes

This page covers the Local only switch under Privacy, and the rule by which the edit page's assistant decides where a sentence goes: to Ollama, to Anthropic, or nowhere. Read it if the assistant's field is disabled and you want to know why, or if you want to be certain your sentences are never sent to a cloud provider.

The Privacy card switched on, with the Cloud providers card further up the page dimmed and reading Disabled

The Local only switch​

Local only is one switch, and it is off to begin with. Its line reads Cloud providers are available once a key is on file for them.

Turn it on and the line changes to Cloud providers are disabled app-wide. Nothing leaves this Mac. That sentence is about the assistant's cloud route. The switch does not stop the account's sign-in and licence checks, which reach the website whatever it is set to; see What leaves this Mac, and when.

With the switch on, the three rows under Cloud providers dim, each reads Disabled while Local only is on. with the word Disabled at the right, and their fields and buttons stop responding. A saved Anthropic key is ignored for as long as the switch is on, whatever is in the Keychain.

The keys are not removed. Turn the switch off again and every row is exactly as you left it, so you never have to paste a key twice. To take a key off this Mac, turn the switch off first and then use the row's Clear button: Clear is dimmed with the rest of the row while the switch is on.

Ollama is not a cloud provider and is unaffected: with the switch on, a running Ollama still answers the assistant. At the starting address, http://localhost:11434, that is Ollama on this Mac and your sentences stay here; if you have pointed the address at another computer, they go to that computer, switch or no switch.

Before the order​

Two things switch the Ask for an adjustment… field off before the order below is asked, and no setting under Ollama, Cloud providers or Privacy changes either of them:

  • The account is read-only. Culling decisions and every develop adjustment are paused, and so is the field. The way back is through the Account section of Settings and your account page; see What read-only means.
  • The library cannot store adjustments, as with the three Earlier library rows. See Known limits.

In both cases the field is disabled with the sentence This library can't store adjustments, so there is nothing to apply one to. and no Settings link, whatever keys are saved, Local only says or Ollama answers.

In Vixlo 0.1

On a read-only account that sentence names the wrong cause. The library is fine; the account paused the field, as the banner across the edit page says: Vixlo is read-only until you subscribe. Lift the read-only state as What read-only means describes, then press Refresh in the Account section of Settings, and the order below applies again.

The order​

Once the field is allowed to work at all, it decides where a sentence would go by one rule, in this order, and the first line that applies wins:

  1. While Vixlo is still asking Ollama whether it is running, nothing. The field is disabled with Checking for a configured AI provider…. Vixlo will not guess a route, least of all a cloud one, in the moment before your own daemon replies. You see it in the first second or two after launch, and if you open the edit page just after pressing Recheck in Settings, before Ollama has answered.
  2. Ollama is answering with a model Vixlo can run: Ollama, always, whatever keys are saved and whether or not Local only is on. The header reads via Ollama · and the model's name. The model is the one you chose on the Ollama model row, if it is installed — even one marked no tool use; otherwise the first one Ollama says can use tools; otherwise, on an older Ollama that says nothing about tools for any model, the first one installed.
  3. Ollama is answering but has nothing that will do — no models at all, or none that Ollama says can use tools and no installed one you chose: nothing. The field says which: Ollama is running but has no models installed. Pull one, then try again. or Ollama has no model that can use tools. Pull one that has them — llama3.1, qwen2.5 and mistral-nemo all do — then choose it in Settings. Vixlo never reroutes to a paid provider because a local model lacks a feature.
  4. Ollama is not answering: Anthropic, but only with a key saved in the Anthropic row and Local only off. The header reads via Anthropic · claude-sonnet-5 (or the model you chose) in warning ink.
  5. Otherwise, nothing, and the field says why. With Local only on: Local only is on and Ollama is not answering, so your stored Anthropic key stays unused. Start Ollama, or turn Local only off in Settings. — or, with no key saved either, …so nothing can stand in. Start Ollama, or turn Local only off in Settings and add a cloud key. With Local only off and no Anthropic key: Needs an API key. If an OpenAI or Google key is saved, that sentence goes on to say Your OpenAI key is stored, but this build has no provider for it yet.

Whenever the reason is something Settings can fix, a Settings link sits under it and opens this window.

The edit page's field with its header naming the Anthropic route in warning ink

The edit page reads the same settings as the Settings window. A key saved or cleared, the Local only switch and the model chips reach an open edit page as you change them. With the same answer from Ollama in hand, the two agree: if the dot under Ollama reads Connected and the line under the model chips begins Sends to, the field reads via Ollama; if it reads Not running and the Anthropic row reads Key set with Local only off, the field reads via Anthropic.

In Vixlo 0.1

Ollama's answer is the one thing that does not reach an edit page that is already open. The page takes the answer when it opens and keeps it. Settings shows a new answer only after you press Recheck (or ↩ in the Ollama address field), and an edit page that is already open goes on acting on the old one. Press Recheck, then leave the edit page and open it again, and the two agree.

What reads these settings​

One feature does: Ask for an adjustment… on the edit page. Proposals on the cull page, Match a reference on the edit page, faces and everything else work on every Mac with nothing on this page set, and none of them send anything anywhere. See What stays on your Mac.