Running AI Drafting on Hardware You Own
Ollama on each tester’s machine, or one shared box over HTTPS. The setup is small, and the part that catches everyone is that the request comes from the browser rather than from a server.
If sending findings to a hosted model is not acceptable to your clients, or not to you, the platform will talk to a local model instead. It is not a reduced mode: the same features work, on your own hardware, with no rate limits and nothing leaving the machine.
Understand this first
The portal runs in the browser and calls the model directly. Nothing is proxied through a Pental server, which is the whole point, but it means the model has to accept a cross-origin call from your portal’s address. Almost every failure below is that one fact showing up in a different disguise.
One machine per tester
- Install Ollama and pull the model the AI screen recommends,
gemma4:12b. - Set OLLAMA_ORIGINS to your portal’s origin. The AI settings screen prints the exact value for your hostname, so copy it rather than typing it.
- On Windows, set it in PowerShell and then restart Ollama FULLY from the tray. Closing the window is not restarting it, and this is the most common reason it still will not connect.
- On macOS, set it with
launchctl setenv OLLAMA_ORIGINS, then quit Ollama from the menu bar and open it again. - On Linux, add it as an Environment line in the systemd unit and restart the service.
Or one shared machine
A single well-specified box for the team is often better value than a model on every laptop. The catch is that a browser will not make a plain HTTP request from a page served over HTTPS, so the shared machine has to be reachable over HTTPS as well. Tailscale will expose it with a single command, which the AI screen gives you; any other way of terminating TLS in front of Ollama works just as well.
When it will not connect, check in this order: is Ollama running, was it fully restarted after the origins change, is the origin exactly right including the scheme and port, and is the connection HTTPS if your portal is.
Choosing a model
Report writing rewards instruction-following more than breadth of knowledge, because every field is generated against a prompt you can read and edit. The AI screen recommends gemma4:12b: it runs on one workstation (a 12 GB graphics card, or a Mac with 16 GB of memory), follows a prompt closely and reads screenshots. A shared machine with a 24 GB card can run gemma4:31b, which writes better still. Leave the context window blank so it is sized to the model and the model stays on the graphics card. Then generate a handful of findings from real evidence and compare them with what your team would have written. That afternoon settles the question better than any benchmark.
Try This on Your Own Database
Pental runs on a Postgres database you own, under your own brand, with the AI on your own key. The trial is the whole platform.
Only need the reporting? Our reporting tool is free and open source, on your own server.
Also Worth Reading
Connecting an AI Provider, or Running One Yourself
Settings, then AI: Ollama on your own hardware, Groq, OpenAI, Anthropic, or an OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoint. With your own key, your own side sends every request, so neither key nor text passes through Pental.
AIWriting a Pentest Finding from Your Notes with AI
Paste your notes and screenshots into a finding, press one button, and every field is drafted from the evidence in your firm’s own style: the title, description, remediation, CVSS score and vector, CWE and affected hosts.
DatabaseCreating Your Database: Three Ways to Run It
Your portal runs on a database you own, in one of three places: PostgreSQL in your own cloud, self-hosted Supabase, or Supabase Cloud. What each is, its pros and cons, and the full guide for each.
Setup guide
Prefer to watch it?
The whole setup recorded, with chapters you can jump to: registering, your own domain, your own database in any of three places, your own mail server, branding, the first sign-in, updating the database on Supabase Cloud, and moving the database if you change your mind.
- 0:00 · Registering, signing in, and the free trial
- 0:44 · Your name and your firm’s name
- 0:50 · Custom domain
- +6 more