diff --git a/Dockerfile.llamacpp-cpu b/Dockerfile.llamacpp-cpu
index fce9915a..feab1659 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.llamacpp-cpu
+++ b/Dockerfile.llamacpp-cpu
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ### IMPORTANT, THIS IMAGE CAN ONLY BE RUN IN LINUX DOCKER
 ### You will run into a segfault in mac
-FROM python:3.11.6-slim-bookworm as base
+FROM python:3.11.6-slim-bookworm AS base
 
 # Install poetry
 RUN pip install pipx
@@ -20,14 +20,14 @@ RUN apt update && apt install -y \
 # https://python-poetry.org/docs/configuration/#virtualenvsin-project
 ENV POETRY_VIRTUALENVS_IN_PROJECT=true
 
-FROM base as dependencies
+FROM base AS dependencies
 WORKDIR /home/worker/app
 COPY pyproject.toml poetry.lock ./
 
 ARG POETRY_EXTRAS="ui embeddings-huggingface llms-llama-cpp vector-stores-qdrant"
 RUN poetry install --no-root --extras "${POETRY_EXTRAS}"
 
-FROM base as app
+FROM base AS app
 
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 ENV PORT=8080
diff --git a/Dockerfile.ollama b/Dockerfile.ollama
index 5a8b73ac..83fd1297 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.ollama
+++ b/Dockerfile.ollama
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM python:3.11.6-slim-bookworm as base
+FROM python:3.11.6-slim-bookworm AS base
 
 # Install poetry
 RUN pip install pipx
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ ENV PATH=".venv/bin/:$PATH"
 # https://python-poetry.org/docs/configuration/#virtualenvsin-project
 ENV POETRY_VIRTUALENVS_IN_PROJECT=true
 
-FROM base as dependencies
+FROM base AS dependencies
 WORKDIR /home/worker/app
 COPY pyproject.toml poetry.lock ./
 
 ARG POETRY_EXTRAS="ui vector-stores-qdrant llms-ollama embeddings-ollama"
 RUN poetry install --no-root --extras "${POETRY_EXTRAS}"
 
-FROM base as app
+FROM base AS app
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 ENV PORT=8080
 ENV APP_ENV=prod
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index c2ef0f6d..2d6dff2e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -8,11 +8,12 @@ services:
   # This service builds from an external Dockerfile and runs the Ollama mode.
   private-gpt-ollama:
     image: ${PGPT_IMAGE:-zylonai/private-gpt}:${PGPT_TAG:-0.6.2}-ollama  # x-release-please-version
+    user: root
     build:
       context: .
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.ollama
     volumes:
-      - ./local_data/:/home/worker/app/local_data
+      - ./local_data:/home/worker/app/local_data
     ports:
       - "8001:8001"
     environment:
@@ -27,11 +28,14 @@ services:
       - ollama-cpu
       - ollama-cuda
       - ollama-api
+    depends_on:
+      - ollama
 
   # Private-GPT service for the local mode
   # This service builds from a local Dockerfile and runs the application in local mode.
   private-gpt-llamacpp-cpu:
     image: ${PGPT_IMAGE:-zylonai/private-gpt}:${PGPT_TAG:-0.6.2}-llamacpp-cpu # x-release-please-version
+    user: root
     build:
       context: .
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.llamacpp-cpu
@@ -44,7 +48,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       PORT: 8001
       PGPT_PROFILES: local
-      HF_TOKEN: ${HF_TOKEN}
+      HF_TOKEN: ${HF_TOKEN:-}
     profiles:
       - llamacpp-cpu
 
@@ -57,7 +61,7 @@ services:
   ollama:
     image: traefik:v2.10
     ports:
-      - "8081:8080"
+      - "11434:11434"
     command:
       - "--providers.file.filename=/etc/router.yml"
       - "--log.level=ERROR"
@@ -98,4 +102,4 @@ services:
               count: 1
               capabilities: [gpu]
     profiles:
-      - ollama-cuda
\ No newline at end of file
+      - ollama-cuda
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index df765336..25e0bbda 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1060,6 +1060,17 @@ files = [
 marshmallow = ">=3.18.0,<4.0.0"
 typing-inspect = ">=0.4.0,<1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "decorator"
+version = "5.1.1"
+description = "Decorators for Humans"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.5"
+files = [
+    {file = "decorator-5.1.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:b8c3f85900b9dc423225913c5aace94729fe1fa9763b38939a95226f02d37186"},
+    {file = "decorator-5.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:637996211036b6385ef91435e4fae22989472f9d571faba8927ba8253acbc330"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "deprecated"
 version = "1.2.14"
@@ -1250,7 +1261,7 @@ standard = ["fastapi", "uvicorn[standard] (>=0.15.0)"]
 name = "ffmpy"
 version = "0.4.0"
 description = "A simple Python wrapper for FFmpeg"
-optional = true
+optional = false
 python-versions = "<4.0.0,>=3.8.1"
 files = [
     {file = "ffmpy-0.4.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:39c0f20c5b465e7f8d29a5191f3a7d7675a8c546d9d985de8921151cd9b59e14"},
@@ -2227,6 +2238,17 @@ files = [
     {file = "joblib-1.4.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:2382c5816b2636fbd20a09e0f4e9dad4736765fdfb7dca582943b9c1366b3f0e"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "jsonpath-python"
+version = "1.0.6"
+description = "A more powerful JSONPath implementation in modern python"
+optional = true
+python-versions = ">=3.6"
+files = [
+    {file = "jsonpath-python-1.0.6.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:dd5be4a72d8a2995c3f583cf82bf3cd1a9544cfdabf2d22595b67aff07349666"},
+    {file = "jsonpath_python-1.0.6-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:1e3b78df579f5efc23565293612decee04214609208a2335884b3ee3f786b575"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "kiwisolver"
 version = "1.4.5"
@@ -2470,6 +2492,21 @@ huggingface-hub = {version = ">=0.19.0", extras = ["inference"]}
 llama-index-core = ">=0.10.1,<0.11.0"
 sentence-transformers = ">=2.6.1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "llama-index-embeddings-mistralai"
+version = "0.1.6"
+description = "llama-index embeddings mistralai integration"
+optional = true
+python-versions = "<4.0,>=3.9"
+files = [
+    {file = "llama_index_embeddings_mistralai-0.1.6-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:d69d6fc0be8a1772aaf890bc036f2d575af46070b375a2649803c0eb9736ea1b"},
+    {file = "llama_index_embeddings_mistralai-0.1.6.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:7c9cbf974b1e7d14ded34d3eb749a0d1a379fb151ab75115cc1ffdd08a96a045"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+llama-index-core = ">=0.10.1,<0.11.0"
+mistralai = ">=1.0.0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "llama-index-embeddings-ollama"
 version = "0.1.2"
@@ -2991,6 +3028,27 @@ files = [
     {file = "minijinja-2.0.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:e774beffebfb8a1ad17e638ef70917cf5e94593f79acb8a8fff7d983169f3a4e"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "mistralai"
+version = "1.0.3"
+description = "Python Client SDK for the Mistral AI API."
+optional = true
+python-versions = "<4.0,>=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "mistralai-1.0.3-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:64af7c9192e64dc66b2da6d1c4d54a1324a881c21665a2f93d6b35d9de9f87c8"},
+    {file = "mistralai-1.0.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:84f1a217666c76fec9d477ae266399b813c3ac32a4a348d2ecd5fe1c039b0667"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+httpx = ">=0.27.0,<0.28.0"
+jsonpath-python = ">=1.0.6,<2.0.0"
+pydantic = ">=2.8.2,<2.9.0"
+python-dateutil = ">=2.9.0.post0,<3.0.0"
+typing-inspect = ">=0.9.0,<0.10.0"
+
+[package.extras]
+gcp = ["google-auth (==2.27.0)", "requests (>=2.32.3,<3.0.0)"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "mmh3"
 version = "4.1.0"
@@ -3850,8 +3908,6 @@ files = [
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:960db0e31c4e52fa0fc3ecbaea5b2d3b58f379e32a95ae6b0ebeaa25b93dfd34"},
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp312-none-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:a6ea7afb5b30b2317e0bee03c8d34c8181bc5a36f2afd4d0952f378972c4efd5"},
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp312-none-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:874ce88264b7e655dde4aeaacdc8fd772a7962faadfb41abe63e2a4861abc3dc"},
-    {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp313-none-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:efdf2c5cde290ae6b83095f03119bdc00303d7a03b42b16c54517baa3c4ca3d0"},
-    {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp313-none-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:8e190fe7888e2e4392f52cafb9626113ba135ef53aacc65cd13109eb9746c43e"},
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_15_x86_64.macosx_11_0_arm64.macosx_10_15_universal2.whl", hash = "sha256:66680eae4c4e7fc193d91cfc1353ad6d01b4801ae9b5314f17e11ba55e934183"},
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:caff75b425db5ef8e8f23af93c80f072f97b4fb3afd4af44482905c9f588da28"},
     {file = "orjson-3.10.6-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_armv7l.manylinux2014_armv7l.whl", hash = "sha256:3722fddb821b6036fd2a3c814f6bd9b57a89dc6337b9924ecd614ebce3271394"},
@@ -4970,6 +5026,20 @@ requests = ">=2.0.0"
 [package.extras]
 rsa = ["oauthlib[signedtoken] (>=3.0.0)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "retry-async"
+version = "0.1.4"
+description = ""
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.10,<4.0"
+files = [
+    {file = "retry_async-0.1.4-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:21b383c7bc52013478337b894f476c9f106485cfeeb5d449abe5f745be2da219"},
+    {file = "retry_async-0.1.4.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:8414d69b20920a1d700de34b68c0f972fa36a0158450a6f6abc5b45a241ac6b6"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+decorator = ">=5.1.1,<6.0.0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rich"
 version = "13.7.1"
@@ -6669,6 +6739,7 @@ cffi = ["cffi (>=1.11)"]
 embeddings-azopenai = ["llama-index-embeddings-azure-openai"]
 embeddings-gemini = ["llama-index-embeddings-gemini"]
 embeddings-huggingface = ["einops", "llama-index-embeddings-huggingface"]
+embeddings-mistral = ["llama-index-embeddings-mistralai"]
 embeddings-ollama = ["llama-index-embeddings-ollama", "ollama"]
 embeddings-openai = ["llama-index-embeddings-openai"]
 embeddings-sagemaker = ["boto3"]
@@ -6691,4 +6762,4 @@ vector-stores-qdrant = ["llama-index-vector-stores-qdrant"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = ">=3.11,<3.12"
-content-hash = "2eaa56bf185723ad028f5221675f1ee070bc70ba7d606ebe28dcfe276a3c9dca"
+content-hash = "3fa6ef447847895b1a16b8b0422dd9e4fda1aaaadef3af71971eb412da89bf67"
diff --git a/private_gpt/components/embedding/embedding_component.py b/private_gpt/components/embedding/embedding_component.py
index 5d3e9974..b55cef87 100644
--- a/private_gpt/components/embedding/embedding_component.py
+++ b/private_gpt/components/embedding/embedding_component.py
@@ -144,6 +144,23 @@ class EmbeddingComponent:
                     api_key=settings.gemini.api_key,
                     model_name=settings.gemini.embedding_model,
                 )
+            case "mistralai":
+                try:
+                    from llama_index.embeddings.mistralai import (  # type: ignore
+                        MistralAIEmbedding,
+                    )
+                except ImportError as e:
+                    raise ImportError(
+                        "Mistral dependencies not found, install with `poetry install --extras embeddings-mistral`"
+                    ) from e
+
+                api_key = settings.openai.api_key
+                model = settings.openai.embedding_model
+
+                self.embedding_model = MistralAIEmbedding(
+                    api_key=api_key,
+                    model=model,
+                )
             case "mock":
                 # Not a random number, is the dimensionality used by
                 # the default embedding model
diff --git a/private_gpt/settings/settings.py b/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
index 4cf192a3..abe56627 100644
--- a/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
+++ b/private_gpt/settings/settings.py
@@ -197,7 +197,14 @@ class HuggingFaceSettings(BaseModel):
 
 class EmbeddingSettings(BaseModel):
     mode: Literal[
-        "huggingface", "openai", "azopenai", "sagemaker", "ollama", "mock", "gemini"
+        "huggingface",
+        "openai",
+        "azopenai",
+        "sagemaker",
+        "ollama",
+        "mock",
+        "gemini",
+        "mistralai",
     ]
     ingest_mode: Literal["simple", "batch", "parallel", "pipeline"] = Field(
         "simple",
@@ -350,6 +357,10 @@ class AzureOpenAISettings(BaseModel):
 class UISettings(BaseModel):
     enabled: bool
     path: str
+    default_mode: Literal["RAG", "Search", "Basic", "Summarize"] = Field(
+        "RAG",
+        description="The default mode.",
+    )
     default_chat_system_prompt: str = Field(
         None,
         description="The default system prompt to use for the chat mode.",
diff --git a/private_gpt/ui/ui.py b/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
index e61a8827..7f96a4f2 100644
--- a/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
+++ b/private_gpt/ui/ui.py
@@ -107,8 +107,11 @@ class PrivateGptUi:
         self._selected_filename = None
 
         # Initialize system prompt based on default mode
-        self.mode = MODES[0]
-        self._system_prompt = self._get_default_system_prompt(self.mode)
+        default_mode_map = {mode.value: mode for mode in Modes}
+        self._default_mode = default_mode_map.get(
+            settings().ui.default_mode, Modes.RAG_MODE
+        )
+        self._system_prompt = self._get_default_system_prompt(self._default_mode)
 
         # Initialize default response style: Streaming
         self.response_style = STYLES[0]
@@ -425,7 +428,7 @@ class PrivateGptUi:
 
             with gr.Row(equal_height=False):
                 with gr.Column(scale=3):
-                    default_mode = MODES[0]
+                    default_mode = self._default_mode
                     mode = gr.Radio(
                         [mode.value for mode in MODES],
                         label="Mode",
diff --git a/private_gpt/utils/ollama.py b/private_gpt/utils/ollama.py
index 9c75a875..da9107bf 100644
--- a/private_gpt/utils/ollama.py
+++ b/private_gpt/utils/ollama.py
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@ from collections import deque
 from collections.abc import Iterator, Mapping
 from typing import Any
 
+from httpx import ConnectError
 from tqdm import tqdm  # type: ignore
 
+from private_gpt.utils.retry import retry
+
 try:
-    from ollama import Client  # type: ignore
+    from ollama import Client, ResponseError  # type: ignore
 except ImportError as e:
     raise ImportError(
         "Ollama dependencies not found, install with `poetry install --extras llms-ollama or embeddings-ollama`"
@@ -14,13 +17,25 @@ except ImportError as e:
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+_MAX_RETRIES = 5
+_JITTER = (3.0, 10.0)
 
+
+@retry(
+    is_async=False,
+    exceptions=(ConnectError, ResponseError),
+    tries=_MAX_RETRIES,
+    jitter=_JITTER,
+    logger=logger,
+)
 def check_connection(client: Client) -> bool:
     try:
         client.list()
         return True
+    except (ConnectError, ResponseError) as e:
+        raise e
     except Exception as e:
-        logger.error(f"Failed to connect to Ollama: {e!s}")
+        logger.error(f"Failed to connect to Ollama: {type(e).__name__}: {e!s}")
         return False
 
 
diff --git a/private_gpt/utils/retry.py b/private_gpt/utils/retry.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..614b6803
--- /dev/null
+++ b/private_gpt/utils/retry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import logging
+from collections.abc import Callable
+from typing import Any
+
+from retry_async import retry as retry_untyped  # type: ignore
+
+retry_logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+def retry(
+    exceptions: Any = Exception,
+    *,
+    is_async: bool = False,
+    tries: int = -1,
+    delay: float = 0,
+    max_delay: float | None = None,
+    backoff: float = 1,
+    jitter: float | tuple[float, float] = 0,
+    logger: logging.Logger = retry_logger,
+) -> Callable[..., Any]:
+    wrapped = retry_untyped(
+        exceptions=exceptions,
+        is_async=is_async,
+        tries=tries,
+        delay=delay,
+        max_delay=max_delay,
+        backoff=backoff,
+        jitter=jitter,
+        logger=logger,
+    )
+    return wrapped  # type: ignore
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 17a7c698..afbb83cc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ llama-index-embeddings-huggingface = {version ="^0.2.2", optional = true}
 llama-index-embeddings-openai = {version ="^0.1.10", optional = true}
 llama-index-embeddings-azure-openai = {version ="^0.1.10", optional = true}
 llama-index-embeddings-gemini = {version ="^0.1.8", optional = true}
+llama-index-embeddings-mistralai = {version ="^0.1.6", optional = true}
 llama-index-vector-stores-qdrant = {version ="^0.2.10", optional = true}
 llama-index-vector-stores-milvus = {version ="^0.1.20", optional = true}
 llama-index-vector-stores-chroma = {version ="^0.1.10", optional = true}
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ ollama = {version ="^0.3.0", optional = true}
 
 # Optional HF Transformers
 einops = {version = "^0.8.0", optional = true}
+retry-async = "^0.1.4"
 
 [tool.poetry.extras]
 ui = ["gradio", "ffmpy"]
@@ -82,6 +84,7 @@ embeddings-openai = ["llama-index-embeddings-openai"]
 embeddings-sagemaker = ["boto3"]
 embeddings-azopenai = ["llama-index-embeddings-azure-openai"]
 embeddings-gemini = ["llama-index-embeddings-gemini"]
+embeddings-mistral = ["llama-index-embeddings-mistralai"]
 vector-stores-qdrant = ["llama-index-vector-stores-qdrant"]
 vector-stores-clickhouse = ["llama-index-vector-stores-clickhouse", "clickhouse_connect"]
 vector-stores-chroma = ["llama-index-vector-stores-chroma"]
diff --git a/settings.yaml b/settings.yaml
index 04592ebe..eda1af86 100644
--- a/settings.yaml
+++ b/settings.yaml
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ data:
 ui:
   enabled: true
   path: /
+  # "RAG", "Search", "Basic", or "Summarize"
+  default_mode: "RAG"
   default_chat_system_prompt: >
     You are a helpful, respectful and honest assistant.
     Always answer as helpfully as possible and follow ALL given instructions.