Month: January 2025

Installation and configuration of ThunderAI on Ubuntu 24.04

ThunderAI is a powerful Thunderbird extension that leverages the advanced capabilities of AI to revolutionize email management. By integrating with ChatGPT, OpenAI and Ollama ThunderAI empowers users to:

  • Craft compelling emails: Define custom prompts to generate email drafts, refine existing messages, and ensure professional tone and style.
  • Gain deeper insights: Analyze emails using additional data provided by the user, such as context files or previous communications.
  • Enhance productivity: Automate tasks like email tagging and categorization, freeing up time for more important matters.
  • Improve communication quality: Leverage ChatGPT’s language expertise to identify and correct grammatical errors, enhance clarity, and optimize email content for maximum impact.

And of course, you want that AI running on your own computer. Luckily that is not that difficult… The installation and configuration of ThunderAI on Ubuntu 24.04 consists of 4 easy steps:

  • Install Ollama on Ubuntu
  • Configure Ollama service on Ubuntu
  • Install ThunderAI in Thunderbird
  • Configure ThunderAI in Thunderbird

Install Ollama on Ubuntu

  • Go to the Ollama website.
  • Follow the installation steps for Linux:
  • Open a terminal
  • Run the following command: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
  • Download and run an LLM model.
  • For example by typing: ollama run zephyr:7b-beta-q8_0
  • After downloading the LMM it will start Ollama running the zephyr:7b-beta-q8_0 LLM.
  • You can exit Ollama by entering: /bye

Configure Ollama service on Ubuntu

  • Open a terminal and type: sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service
  • In the file, you will see a line starting with Environment
  • Add the following sentence just beneath it: Environment="OLLAMA_ORIGINS=moz-extension://*"
  • Save and exit the file
  • Restart your computer

Install ThunderAI in Thunderbird

  • Open Thunderbird and go to Tools, Add-ons and Themes.
  • Search the ThunderAI extension by typing ThunderAI in Find more add-ons, and install it.

Configure ThunderAI in Thunderbird

  • Open Thunderbird and go to Tools, Add-ons and Themes.
  • Search the ThunderAI Extension.
  • Click the wrench Icon.
  • Select Ollama API (Local LLM) as the Connection Type.
  • Fill in http://127.0.0.1:11434/ as the Host Address.
  • Choose your favorite Ollama Model, and you can use AI in your favorite email client ;-).

Now you should be ready to run your own LLM as a useful assistant on your favorite email client.

Suggestions for improving this article are welcome, please let me know and drop me a line.