diff --git a/src/clients/databricks.js b/src/clients/databricks.js
index d2d0d03..78b6ac4 100644
--- a/src/clients/databricks.js
+++ b/src/clients/databricks.js
@@ -319,6 +319,17 @@ async function invokeOllama(body) {
     },
   };
 
+  // Add keep_alive if configured (controls how long model stays loaded)
+  // Accepts: duration strings ("10m", "24h"), numbers (seconds), -1 (permanent), 0 (immediate unload)
+  if (config.ollama.keepAlive !== undefined) {
+    const keepAlive = config.ollama.keepAlive;
+    // Parse as number if it looks like one, otherwise use string
+    ollamaBody.keep_alive = /^-?\d+$/.test(keepAlive)
+      ? parseInt(keepAlive, 10)
+      : keepAlive;
+    logger.debug({ keepAlive: ollamaBody.keep_alive }, "Ollama keep_alive configured");
+  }
+  
   // Check if model supports tools FIRST (before wasteful injection)
   const supportsTools = await checkOllamaToolSupport(config.ollama.model);
 
diff --git a/src/config/index.js b/src/config/index.js
index 51cc548..a8970ba 100644
--- a/src/config/index.js
+++ b/src/config/index.js
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ const azureAnthropicVersion = process.env.AZURE_ANTHROPIC_VERSION ?? "2023-06-01
 const ollamaEndpoint = process.env.OLLAMA_ENDPOINT ?? "http://localhost:11434";
 const ollamaModel = process.env.OLLAMA_MODEL ?? "qwen2.5-coder:7b";
 const ollamaTimeout = Number.parseInt(process.env.OLLAMA_TIMEOUT_MS ?? "120000", 10);
+const ollamaKeepAlive = process.env.OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE ?? undefined;
+// Accepts: duration strings ("10m", "24h"), numbers (seconds), -1 (permanent), 0 (immediate unload)
 const ollamaEmbeddingsEndpoint = process.env.OLLAMA_EMBEDDINGS_ENDPOINT ?? `${ollamaEndpoint}/api/embeddings`;
 const ollamaEmbeddingsModel = process.env.OLLAMA_EMBEDDINGS_MODEL ?? "nomic-embed-text";
 
@@ -537,6 +539,7 @@ var config = {
     endpoint: ollamaEndpoint,
     model: ollamaModel,
     timeout: Number.isNaN(ollamaTimeout) ? 120000 : ollamaTimeout,
+    keepAlive: ollamaKeepAlive,
     embeddingsEndpoint: ollamaEmbeddingsEndpoint,
     embeddingsModel: ollamaEmbeddingsModel,
   },