VS Code Chat Ollama on local server ETIMEDOUT

Before submitting your bug report

• I believe this is a bug. I'll try to join the Continue Discord for questions
• I'm not able to find an open issue that reports the same bug
• I've seen the troubleshooting guide on the Continue Docs

Relevant environment info

- Continue extension details : 
Identifier : continue.continue
Version : 1.0.3
Last Updated : 2025-03-11, 17:43:47
- IDE : VS Code 1.98.0
- OS : Windows 11

Description

VS Code Continue extension on a computer + local ollama server accessed through VPN gives error using the chat but ollama POST is working

To reproduce

Hi,

• Currently running a local ollama server on a private network. I installed VS Code Continue extension and want to use models from the ollama server (access through a VPN).

• Trying to use the chat returns : request to http://[XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434/api/chat failed, reason: connect ETIMEDOUT [XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434

• The error log is the following :

Error handling webview message: {
  "msg": {
    "messageId": "9c9bc2fc-fdb5-44fa-8d52-1e1d89adb569",
    "messageType": "llm/streamChat",
    "data": {
      "messages": [
        {
          "role": "system",
          "content": "..."
        },
        {
          "role": "user",
          "content": [
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "Say \"Hi!\""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "role": "assistant",
          "content": ""
        }
      ],
      "title": "deepseek-r1",
      "completionOptions": {}
    }
  }
}

Error: request to http://[XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434/api/chat failed, reason: connect ETIMEDOUT [XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434

• Using Postman to check the POST request http://[XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434/api/chat works with the following payload (returning response 200 and a valid answer):

{
  "model": "deepseek-r1:70b",
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "system",
      "content": "..." 
    },
    {
      "role": "user", 
      "content": "Answer with one single word. The sky colour is"
    }
  ],
  "stream": false
}

• My config.yaml is :

name: continue_config_v0
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1

models:
  - name : deepseek-r1
    model: deepseek-r1:70b
    provider: ollama
    apiBase: http://[XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434/
    roles:
      - chat
    defaultCompletionOptions:
      temperature: 0.5
      maxTokens: 2000

rules:
  - Give concise responses

• Continue extension details :
  Identifier : continue.continue
  Version : 1.0.3
  Last Updated : 2025-03-11, 17:43:47

• IDE : VS Code 1.98.0

• OS : Windows 11

Log output

Error handling webview message: {
  "msg": {
    "messageId": "9c9bc2fc-fdb5-44fa-8d52-1e1d89adb569",
    "messageType": "llm/streamChat",
    "data": {
      "messages": [
        {
          "role": "system",
          "content": "..."
        },
        {
          "role": "user",
          "content": [
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "Say \"Hi!\""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "role": "assistant",
          "content": ""
        }
      ],
      "title": "deepseek-r1",
      "completionOptions": {}
    }
  }
}

Error: request to http://[XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434/api/chat failed, reason: connect ETIMEDOUT [XXX.XX.X.XX]:11434