Cracking the Enigma of Ollama Templates

Note: this is the first of the advanced topics and assumes you know the basics of how ollama works

Learn how Ollama's template system sets it apart from other AI model platforms and makes it more user-friendly for both beginners and experts. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore:

• How templates work in Ollama
• The evolution of templates from simple to complex
• Step-by-step breakdown of template structures
• Real examples
• Practical tips for creating your own templates
• Debug mode demonstrations

As a former member of the founding Ollama team and experienced trainer, I'll share insider knowledge and best practices for working with templates. Whether you're new to Ollama or looking to deepen your understanding, this tutorial provides essential insights for effectively using and customizing model templates.

🎓 Part of the Advanced Topics in the Ollama Course
⚡ Based on real questions from the Ollama Discord community
🔧 Perfect for both beginners and experienced users
#Ollama #AI #MachineLearning #Tutorial #TechEducation #Programming

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[aurielklasovsky]

Let's go! This is the video I've been waiting for. Thank you again for this wonderful course

[ErolErten]

Thank you so much for this video and content. I've been looking for exactly this information.

[kaushalkanakamedala]

I think template is just taking in parameters, generating the input to be fed to the model. I want to know if ollama can use inference time reasoning like o1 and be able to use the template to reason. Maybe like provide a template where given the query, the model generates a reasoning, using something like chain of thought or tree of thought to reason and output the result? Easily achieved with langchain or python code on top. Just wanted to know if running this way is possible or if it can be faster.

[HassanAllaham]

Thanks for the very good content. I was waiting this video for long. One thing I noticed (I do not know if it is true): If you downloaded a model like llama3.2 and you created a new model from it using a simple template, then you can NOT use tools as mentioned in Ollama api i.e. you can not pass tools to the client even the model originally support tool calling.. this means that Ollama checks for something in the template to decide whether the model support tool or not. If downloaded llama3.2 from ollama hub, it uses the default template the uploader used, and if you read that default llama3.2 template from the hub you will discover that it forces the model to always call a tool unless it received the tool response i.e. if you called llama3.2 (with tools inserted to client) with the message Hello... It will use one of the tools returning something not useful at all. I believe It is very bad idea to relate ability to pass tools to client with something in the template.. Also I believe that this what makes you and me preferring to use the old way for building tooled agent and considering it more reliable .. Thanks again for the good content 🌹

[JNET_Reloaded]

all models can have a model file for example i have a template maker script i made for crewai to make any local model work with crew ai

[sprobertson]

5:57 IMO the lack of indentation here is way harder to read

[MarincaGheorghe]

Maybe what was not spelled in many of these videos is that a template is the formatting used/ the way one decides what data to send to the model, for mat of the data used for inference.

[GrandpasPlace]

Thank you for these great videos!
I would like to make a request, N8N now has an AI Agent that supports tool calls. Ive been working with it and I can set it up with Ollama and set up a tool that it calls and uses the returned information to formulate the answer. The problem is that no one seems to know how to get it to pass information to the tool. Im asked on the N8N message board and even had others say they are having the same issue. With your knowledge of Ollama and having used N8N do you think you could make a working example and explain how to pass information from the model to the tool? For example the tool looks up a stock price but needs to know which stock symbol to look up. The model is asked what the price of google is and needs to pass it to the tool.

Thank you

[LOSTOfficial_ww]

It’s look like you wearing Malaysian Batik or something like that..nice, love it!❤Love from Malaysia🫡

[ByronBennett]

Do we need to use these templates if we're using the OpenAI compatible REST API? I'm trying to understand how they relate to each other?

[KK]

Your explanations are always like drinking a glass of ice water in a hot weather.