ollama-advisor

A Python library that recommends Ollama models you can run on your machine, based on system specs (RAM, GPU VRAM) and use case (coding, reasoning, vision, embedding, audio, general). It also supports downloading, running, and stopping models.

Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Google Colab.

Korean documentation: README.ko.md

Installation

pip install ollama-advisor

Local development install:

git clone https://github.com/dschloe/ollama-advisor.git
cd ollama-advisor
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

import ollama_advisor as oa

oa.recommend()                       # Full recommendations (returns a DataFrame)
oa.recommend(purpose="coding")       # Filter for coding models only
oa.pull_model("qwen2.5-coder:7b")    # Download a model
oa.run_model("qwen2.5-coder:7b", prompt="hello")  # Single-shot (non-interactive) run
oa.stop_model("qwen2.5-coder:7b")    # Stop / unload a running model
oa.list_installed()                  # List locally installed models

Purpose examples

# Top 5 coding models that fit this machine
oa.recommend(purpose="coding", top_n=5)

# Reasoning models, return as a plain list instead of DataFrame
oa.recommend(purpose="reasoning", as_dataframe=False)

# Refresh catalog from ollama.com, then filter for vision
oa.recommend(purpose="vision", force_refresh=True)

# Embedding-only models (excludes general chat models)
oa.recommend(purpose="embedding")

CLI:

ollama-advisor recommend --purpose coding
ollama-advisor pull qwen2.5-coder:7b
ollama-advisor run qwen2.5-coder:7b --prompt "hello"
ollama-advisor stop qwen2.5-coder:7b
ollama-advisor list
ollama-advisor ps
ollama-advisor specs
ollama-advisor snapshot --force-refresh

Daily catalog snapshot

GitHub Actions (catalog-daily.yml) crawls ollama.com/library once per day and commits CSV/JSON under data/catalog/.

ollama-advisor snapshot --output data/catalog --force-refresh

Prerequisites: Ollama

recommend() and get_system_specs() work without Ollama installed.
pull_model, run_model, stop_model, list_installed, and related commands require a local Ollama server.

• Download: https://ollama.com/download
• macOS: brew install ollama, then ollama serve (or launch the app)
• Windows: run the installer, then start the tray app
• Linux: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

If the Ollama server is not running, an OllamaError is raised with platform-specific setup instructions (error messages in the library may be localized).

Google Colab

recommend() works without Ollama. For pull_model / run_model / list_installed, call setup_colab_ollama() once per runtime:

!pip install -q ollama-advisor

import ollama_advisor as oa

# Recommendations — no Ollama server needed
oa.recommend(purpose="coding", top_n=5)

# Install + start Ollama in this Colab VM (Colab only)
oa.setup_colab_ollama()

# Then pull / run (small models work best on free Colab RAM)
oa.pull_model("qwen2.5-coder:0.5b")
print(oa.run_model("qwen2.5-coder:0.5b", prompt="hello"))

Colab does not keep Ollama running after the runtime disconnects — models and server state reset.

In notebooks and Colab, recommend() automatically displays a scrollable HTML table.

How it works

Memory estimate (approx. 4-bit quantization): required_gb = billions × 0.6 + 1.0

Development & testing

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v

CI (test.yml) runs on Ubuntu / Windows / macOS with Python 3.9 and 3.11. Network crawling is mocked in tests.

PyPI publishing (maintainers)

1. PyPI project

1. Create an account at pypi.org
2. Confirm the name ollama-advisor is available (alternatives: ollama-model-advisor)
3. The project is created on first upload, or when using Trusted Publisher

2. Trusted Publisher (OIDC)

1. PyPI → Account settings → Publishing → Add a new pending publisher
2. Configure:
   • PyPI project name: ollama-advisor
   • Owner: GitHub user or organization
   • Repository name: ollama-advisor
   • Workflow name: publish.yml
   • Environment name: pypi (create a pypi environment in GitHub repo Settings → Environments)
3. Optionally add deployment protection rules under GitHub → Settings → Environments → pypi

The workflow in .github/workflows/publish.yml uses pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish with OIDC—no API token required in CI.

3. Release

git tag v0.1.1
git push origin v0.1.1

Publish a GitHub Release for tag v0.1.1. Then:

1. publish.yml runs pytest as a gate
2. On success, uploads wheel/sdist to PyPI

Manual local upload (debugging only):

python -m build
twine upload dist/*

License

MIT — see LICENSE