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Use Toskar from your phone, laptop, and other apps

· The Toskar team · 3 min read

Toskar runs on one computer, usually the one with the most memory. Out of the box, only that computer can use it: it answers at http://127.0.0.1:7331 and nowhere else. That's the safe default.

Turn on local network access, and every device in the house or office can use the same Toskar: your laptop on the couch, your phone, a coworker's PC, and apps that speak the OpenAI API. The models still run on your computer, and nothing goes to an AI company.

Before you start

You'll create an API key, and every device uses it to connect. The key keeps other people on the network out. The connection is plain HTTP, though, so the key doesn't encrypt what you send. Do this on a network you trust, like your home or office Wi-Fi, not on public Wi-Fi.

1. Turn on local network access

On the computer running Toskar, open http://127.0.0.1:7331 and go to API Access. Turn on Local network access.

Toskar asks you to create a key first. Give it a name you'll recognize, such as "Phone", and copy it right away: the full key is shown only once. Making one key for each device means you can remove one later without changing the others.

2. Restart Toskar

Toskar starts listening on the network the next time it starts.

# macOS (Homebrew): press Ctrl+C where toskar is running, then
toskar

# Linux
sudo systemctl restart toskar

# Windows: close toskar.exe and start it again

If your Mac asks whether toskar may accept incoming connections, allow it. If you run a firewall, allow port 7331.

3. Find the computer's address

Other devices reach Toskar at the computer's local IP address, something like 192.168.1.20:

ipconfig getifaddr en0   # macOS
hostname -I              # Linux
ipconfig                 # Windows: the "IPv4 Address" line

4. Connect

From a laptop or a phone's browser

Open http://192.168.1.20:7331, using your own address, and paste the key when Toskar asks. The web interface works on a phone's browser too.

From the iPhone app

Toskar Mobile looks for computers running Toskar on the same Wi-Fi. Pick yours, or type its address, then paste the key. If it finds nothing, check that the phone is on the same network. Then check that Toskar is allowed under Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.

The iPhone app can also run a smaller model on the phone itself, for when you're away from home.

From apps that use the OpenAI API

Point the app at http://192.168.1.20:7331/v1 and give it the key. Use auto as the model, and Toskar picks an installed model for each request, the same way chat does:

curl http://192.168.1.20:7331/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "auto", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'

Apps that call the API get the full assistant: web look-ups, your knowledge, and the tools you've allowed.

From Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

API Access → Use Toskar in other AI apps has the settings for each app, ready to copy. Most of them run toskarctl mcp, a small bridge that comes with Toskar Core. To use them on another computer, install Toskar Core there too; it doesn't need to be running. Then set TOSKAR_URL to http://192.168.1.20:7331 and TOSKAR_API_KEY to your key in the app's settings. An app that connects to remote MCP servers can skip the bridge: give it http://192.168.1.20:7331/mcp with the key as a bearer token.

A server with no screen

If Toskar runs on a Linux server you only reach over SSH, set the address and a key before it starts. The key can be any string of at least 12 characters, for example from openssl rand -hex 24:

sudo systemctl edit toskar
# add these lines, then save:
[Service]
Environment=TOSKAR_API_HOST=0.0.0.0
Environment=TOSKAR_API_KEY=your-long-random-key

sudo systemctl restart toskar

If it doesn't connect

  • It can't reach the computer at all: make sure Toskar was restarted after you turned on network access, that both devices are on the same network, and that no firewall blocks port 7331. The Test API button on API Access only checks the computer you're on, not other devices.
  • It says the key was rejected: copy it again from where you saved it. If it's lost, create a new key in API Access; the old one can't be shown again.

That's it. One computer does the work, and every device you own can use it.