Implementation:Ollama Ollama ParseFile

Knowledge Sources	Ollama
Domains	Parsing, Configuration
Last Updated	2026-02-14 00:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for parsing Modelfile text into structured command lists provided by the parser package.

Description

ParseFile reads a Modelfile from an io.Reader and produces a Modelfile struct containing an ordered slice of Command entries. Each Command has a Name (e.g., "from", "system", "parameter") and Args (the directive value).

The companion CreateRequest method on Modelfile translates the parsed commands into an api.CreateRequest suitable for the model creation API. It reads adapter files from disk, computes SHA-256 digests, and encodes binary content as base64.

Usage

Called by the CLI ollama create command and the /api/create HTTP handler to process user-provided Modelfiles.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: ollama
• File: parser/parser.go
• Lines: L377-507 (ParseFile), L56-156 (CreateRequest)

Signature

func ParseFile(r io.Reader) (*Modelfile, error)

func (f Modelfile) CreateRequest(relativeDir string) (*api.CreateRequest, error)

Import

import "github.com/ollama/ollama/parser"

I/O Contract

Inputs (ParseFile)

Name	Type	Required	Description
r	io.Reader	Yes	Reader providing Modelfile text content

Inputs (CreateRequest)

Name	Type	Required	Description
relativeDir	string	Yes	Base directory for resolving relative file paths in ADAPTER directives

Outputs (ParseFile)

Name	Type	Description
*Modelfile	*parser.Modelfile	Parsed Modelfile with Commands []Command
error	error	Non-nil if parsing fails (missing FROM, invalid syntax)

Outputs (CreateRequest)

Name	Type	Description
*api.CreateRequest	*api.CreateRequest	API request with From, Files, Adapters, Template, System, Parameters, License, Messages
error	error	Non-nil if file reading or digest computation fails

Usage Examples

Parsing a Modelfile

import (
    "os"
    "github.com/ollama/ollama/parser"
)

f, _ := os.Open("Modelfile")
defer f.Close()

modelfile, err := parser.ParseFile(f)
if err != nil {
    // handle error
}

// Access parsed commands
for _, cmd := range modelfile.Commands {
    fmt.Printf("%s: %s\n", cmd.Name, cmd.Args)
}

// Convert to API request
req, err := modelfile.CreateRequest(".")

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Ollama_Ollama_Modelfile_Parsing

Requires Environment

• Environment:Ollama_Ollama_Go_Runtime