diff --git a/common/json-schema-to-grammar.cpp b/common/json-schema-to-grammar.cpp
index 3e2a9772b..823db93a6 100644
--- a/common/json-schema-to-grammar.cpp
+++ b/common/json-schema-to-grammar.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@
 #include <unordered_map>
 #include <unordered_set>
 #include <vector>
-#include <iostream>
+
+#if defined(LLAMA_USE_CURL)
+#include <curl/curl.h>
+#include <curl/easy.h>
+#endif
 
 using json = nlohmann::ordered_json;
 
@@ -817,7 +821,7 @@ public:
 
     ResolvedRef _resolve_ref(const std::string & ref) {
         auto parts = split(ref, "#");
-        if (parts.size() != 2) {
+        if (parts.size() > 2) {
             _errors.push_back("Unsupported ref: " + ref);
             return {json(), "", false};
         }
@@ -840,6 +844,9 @@ public:
                 _external_refs[url] = target;
             }
         }
+        if (parts.size() == 1) {
+            return {target, "", is_local};
+        }
         auto tokens = split(parts[1], "/");
         for (size_t i = 1; i < tokens.size(); ++i) {
             const auto & sel = tokens[i];
@@ -1040,8 +1047,46 @@ public:
     }
 };
 
+static size_t json_schema_ref_curl_write_callback(char *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *data) {
+    auto &response = *static_cast<std::ostringstream *>(data);
+    response.write((char *)ptr, size * nmemb);
+    return size * nmemb;
+}
+
 std::string json_schema_to_grammar(const json & schema) {
-    SchemaConverter converter([](const std::string &) { return json::object(); }, /* dotall= */ false);
+    std::function<json(const std::string &)> fetch_json = [](const std::string &) { return json::object(); };
+
+#if defined(LLAMA_USE_CURL)
+    fetch_json = [](const std::string & url) {
+        std::unique_ptr<CURL, decltype(&curl_easy_cleanup)> curl(curl_easy_init(), &curl_easy_cleanup);
+        if (!curl) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "%s: error initializing libcurl\n", __func__);
+            return json::object();
+        }
+
+        std::ostringstream response;
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_URL, url.c_str());
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
+
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+        // CURLSSLOPT_NATIVE_CA tells libcurl to use standard certificate store of
+        //   operating system. Currently implemented under MS-Windows.
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_SSL_OPTIONS, CURLSSLOPT_NATIVE_CA);
+#endif
+
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_NOPROGRESS, 1L); // hide head request progress
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, &json_schema_ref_curl_write_callback);
+        curl_easy_setopt(curl.get(), CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, &response);
+        CURLcode res = curl_easy_perform(curl.get());
+        if (res != CURLE_OK) {
+            throw std::runtime_error("Failed to fetch " + url + ": " + curl_easy_strerror(res));
+        }
+        response << '\0';
+        return json::parse(response.str());
+    };
+#endif
+
+    SchemaConverter converter(fetch_json, /* dotall= */ false);
     auto copy = schema;
     converter.visit(copy, "");
     converter.check_errors();