February 13, 2026

Running Local LLMs With Ollama and Connecting With Python

45 minutes

Would you like to learn how to work with LLMs locally on your own computer? How do you integrate your Python projects with a local model? Christopher Trudeau is back on the show this week with another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We cover a recent Real Python step-by-step tutorial on installing local LLMs with Ollama and connecting them to Python. It begins by outlining the advantages this strategy offers, including reducing costs, improving privacy, and enabling offline-capable AI-powered apps. We talk through the steps of setting things up, generating text and code, and calling tools.

We also share other articles and projects from the Python community, including the 2026 Python Developers Survey, creating callable instances with Python’s .__call__(), creating maps and projections with GeoPandas, ending 15 years of subprocess polling, discussing backseat software, a retry library that classifies errors, and a peer-to-peer encrypted CLI chat project.

This episode is sponsored by Honeybadger.

Course Spotlight: Tips for Using the AI Coding Editor Cursor

Learn Cursor fast: Use AI-powered coding with agents, project-aware chat, and inline edits to supercharge your VS Code workflow.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:02:37 – Take the Python Developers Survey 2026

00:03:07 – How to Integrate Local LLMs With Ollama and Python

00:08:15 – Sponsor: Honeybadger

00:09:01 – Create Callable Instances With Python’s .__call__()

00:12:13 – GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins

00:16:03 – Ending 15 Years of subprocess Polling

00:18:57 – Video Course Spotlight

00:20:23 – Backseat Software – Mike Swanson

00:39:06 – cmd-chat: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted CLI Chat

00:41:58 – redress: A Retry Library That Classifies Errors

00:43:56 – Thanks and goodbye

News:

Take the Python Developers Survey 2026

The State of Python 2025: Trends and Survey Insights - The PyCharm Blog

Topics:

How to Integrate Local LLMs With Ollama and Python – Learn how to integrate your Python projects with local models (LLMs) using Ollama for enhanced privacy and cost efficiency.

Create Callable Instances With Python’s .__call__() – Learn about Python callables, including what “callable” means, how to use dunder call, and how to build callable objects with step-by-step examples.

GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins – Dive into GeoPandas with this tutorial covering data loading, mapping, CRS concepts, projections, and spatial joins for intuitive analysis.

Ending 15 Years of subprocess Polling – Python’s standard library subprocess module relies on busy-loop polling to determine whether a process has completed yet. Modern operating systems have callback mechanisms to do this, and Python 3.15 will now take advantage of these.

Discussion:

Backseat Software – Mike Swanson’s Blog

Backseat Software – Hacker News

Projects:

cmd-chat: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted CLI Chat

redress: A Retry Library That Classifies Errors

Additional Links:

Ollama

Python’s .call() Method: Creating Callable Instances – Real Python

Quiz: GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

Customize VS Code Settings

Getting Started With Google Gemini CLI

Tips for Using the AI Coding Editor Cursor

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By Real Python

4.7

139139 ratings

February 13, 2026

Running Local LLMs With Ollama and Connecting With Python

45 minutes

This episode is sponsored by Honeybadger.

Course Spotlight: Tips for Using the AI Coding Editor Cursor

Learn Cursor fast: Use AI-powered coding with agents, project-aware chat, and inline edits to supercharge your VS Code workflow.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:02:37 – Take the Python Developers Survey 2026

00:03:07 – How to Integrate Local LLMs With Ollama and Python

00:08:15 – Sponsor: Honeybadger

00:09:01 – Create Callable Instances With Python’s .__call__()

00:12:13 – GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins

00:16:03 – Ending 15 Years of subprocess Polling

00:18:57 – Video Course Spotlight

00:20:23 – Backseat Software – Mike Swanson

00:39:06 – cmd-chat: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted CLI Chat

00:41:58 – redress: A Retry Library That Classifies Errors

00:43:56 – Thanks and goodbye

News:

Take the Python Developers Survey 2026

The State of Python 2025: Trends and Survey Insights - The PyCharm Blog

Topics:

How to Integrate Local LLMs With Ollama and Python – Learn how to integrate your Python projects with local models (LLMs) using Ollama for enhanced privacy and cost efficiency.

GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins – Dive into GeoPandas with this tutorial covering data loading, mapping, CRS concepts, projections, and spatial joins for intuitive analysis.

Discussion:

Backseat Software – Mike Swanson’s Blog

Backseat Software – Hacker News

Projects:

cmd-chat: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted CLI Chat

redress: A Retry Library That Classifies Errors

Additional Links:

Ollama

Python’s .call() Method: Creating Callable Instances – Real Python

Quiz: GeoPandas Basics: Maps, Projections, and Spatial Joins

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

Customize VS Code Settings