diff --git a/rig/rig-core/src/providers/ollama.rs b/rig/rig-core/src/providers/ollama.rs
index 09abd9d85..20bac5e96 100644
--- a/rig/rig-core/src/providers/ollama.rs
+++ b/rig/rig-core/src/providers/ollama.rs
@@ -6,10 +6,16 @@
 //! use rig::completion::Prompt;
 //! use rig::providers::ollama;
 //!
-//! // Create a new Ollama client (defaults to http://localhost:11434)
-//! // In the case of ollama, no API key is necessary, so we use the `Nothing` struct
+//! // Create a new Ollama client (defaults to http://localhost:11434, no auth)
 //! let client = ollama::Client::new(Nothing).unwrap();
 //!
+//! // Or connect to a remote/proxied Ollama instance with authentication
+//! let client = ollama::Client::builder()
+//!     .api_key("my-secret-key")
+//!     .base_url("http://remote-ollama:11434")
+//!     .build()
+//!     .unwrap();
+//!
 //! // Create an agent with a preamble
 //! let comedian_agent = client
 //!     .agent("qwen2.5:14b")
@@ -32,7 +38,8 @@
 //! let extractor = client.extractor::<serde_json::Value>("llama3.2").build();
 //! ```
 use crate::client::{
-    self, Capabilities, Capable, DebugExt, Nothing, Provider, ProviderBuilder, ProviderClient,
+    self, ApiKey, Capabilities, Capable, DebugExt, Nothing, Provider, ProviderBuilder,
+    ProviderClient,
 };
 use crate::completion::{GetTokenUsage, Usage};
 use crate::http_client::{self, HttpClientExt};
@@ -58,6 +65,45 @@ use tracing_futures::Instrument;
 
 const OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL: &str = "http://localhost:11434";
 
+/// Optional API key for Ollama. By default Ollama requires no authentication,
+/// but proxied or secured deployments may require a Bearer token.
+#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone)]
+pub struct OllamaApiKey(Option<String>);
+
+impl ApiKey for OllamaApiKey {
+    fn into_header(
+        self,
+    ) -> Option<http_client::Result<(http::header::HeaderName, http::header::HeaderValue)>> {
+        self.0.map(http_client::make_auth_header)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<Nothing> for OllamaApiKey {
+    fn from(_: Nothing) -> Self {
+        Self(None)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<String> for OllamaApiKey {
+    fn from(key: String) -> Self {
+        if key.is_empty() {
+            Self(None)
+        } else {
+            Self(Some(key))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<&str> for OllamaApiKey {
+    fn from(key: &str) -> Self {
+        if key.is_empty() {
+            Self(None)
+        } else {
+            Self(Some(key.to_owned()))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Default, Clone, Copy)]
 pub struct OllamaExt;
 
@@ -88,7 +134,7 @@ impl ProviderBuilder for OllamaBuilder {
         = OllamaExt
     where
         H: HttpClientExt;
-    type ApiKey = Nothing;
+    type ApiKey = OllamaApiKey;
 
     const BASE_URL: &'static str = OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL;
 
@@ -103,23 +149,31 @@ impl ProviderBuilder for OllamaBuilder {
 }
 
 pub type Client<H = reqwest::Client> = client::Client<OllamaExt, H>;
-pub type ClientBuilder<H = reqwest::Client> = client::ClientBuilder<OllamaBuilder, Nothing, H>;
+pub type ClientBuilder<H = reqwest::Client> = client::ClientBuilder<OllamaBuilder, OllamaApiKey, H>;
 
 impl ProviderClient for Client {
-    type Input = Nothing;
+    type Input = OllamaApiKey;
 
     fn from_env() -> Self {
-        let api_base = std::env::var("OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL").expect("OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL not set");
+        let api_base = std::env::var("OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL")
+            .unwrap_or_else(|_| OLLAMA_API_BASE_URL.to_string());
+
+        let api_key: OllamaApiKey = std::env::var("OLLAMA_API_KEY")
+            .map(OllamaApiKey::from)
+            .unwrap_or_default();
 
         Self::builder()
-            .api_key(Nothing)
+            .api_key(api_key)
             .base_url(&api_base)
             .build()
-            .unwrap()
+            .expect("failed to build Ollama client from environment")
     }
 
-    fn from_val(_: Self::Input) -> Self {
-        Self::builder().api_key(Nothing).build().unwrap()
+    fn from_val(api_key: Self::Input) -> Self {
+        Self::builder()
+            .api_key(api_key)
+            .build()
+            .expect("failed to build Ollama client")
     }
 }