# Contributor handoff — ollama/ollama

> Canonical page: https://codevetter.com/unpack/ollama/agent-handoff

# Contributor handoff — ollama/ollama

Scanned commit 6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08 (2026-09-18). Generated by codevetter codevetter 1.12.0 on 2026-09-22.

Start with AGENTS.md and docs/development.md. Build Go-only via `go build .`/`go run . serve`; full builds need CMake (native payload under build/lib/ollama). Tests: `go test ./...` (race: `go test -race ./...`), vitest under app/ui/app, integration/ needs a live server. Read cmd/cmd.go, server/routes.go, server/sched.go, llm/llama_server.go first. Traps: dual runner paths (GGUF subprocess vs MLX self-runner), removed features that still error loudly, scheduler panics, and env-var-driven behavior.
- Authoritative onboarding docs: AGENTS.md (build commands), docs/development.md (prereqs, GPU backends, platform notes), docs/api.md (REST reference) — [AGENTS.md](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/AGENTS.md) [docs/development.md](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/docs/development.md) [docs/api.md](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/docs/api.md)
- Read-first files for server changes: cmd/cmd.go (CLI+RunServer), server/routes.go (GenerateRoutes + handlers), server/sched.go (Scheduler lifecycle), server/images.go (Model + pull/create/prune), llm/llama_server.go (runner subprocess) — [cmd/cmd.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/cmd/cmd.go) [server/routes.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/routes.go) [server/sched.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/sched.go) [server/images.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/images.go) [llm/llama_server.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/llm/llama_server.go)
- Shared types live in api/types.go and are the contract between CLI client, server handlers, and the generated TypeScript (checked by api/types_typescript_test.go) — change them carefully — [api/types.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/api/types.go) [api/client.go#L1-L14](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/api/client.go#L1-L14) [api/types_typescript_test.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/api/types_typescript_test.go)
- Model support additions typically touch four places: model/parsers (output), model/renderers (prompt), template/ (named .gotmpl), and server/images.go capability/template selection — plus create/ for safetensors architectures (inferred) — [model/parsers/parsers.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/model/parsers/parsers.go) [model/renderers/renderer.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/model/renderers/renderer.go) [template/index.json](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/template/index.json) [server/images.go#L362-L432](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/images.go#L362-L432)
- Safe edit boundaries: middleware/ translators and model/{parsers,renderers} are well-isolated and heavily tested; sched.go and llm/llama_server.go are high-blast-radius (concurrency + subprocess lifecycle) — add tests in the same package's *_test.go (inferred) — [server/sched.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/sched.go) [llm/llama_server.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/llm/llama_server.go) [server/sched_test.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/sched_test.go)
- Known traps: (a) LoRA adapters and typical_p are removed and error on use; (b) NumGPU==-1 means auto, 0 means CPU-only — don't collapse; (c) num_ctx auto-detection is VRAM-tiered (numCtxAuto flag) and OOM retry reduces it once; (d) scheduler model keys join shard paths with NUL — [cmd/cmd.go#L292-L296](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/cmd/cmd.go#L292-L296) [llm/llama_server.go#L404-L411](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/llm/llama_server.go#L404-L411) [server/sched.go#L43-L49](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/sched.go#L43-L49) [server/sched.go#L111-L120](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/sched.go#L111-L120)
- Environment knobs for debugging: OLLAMA_DEBUG=1 (log level), OLLAMA_DEBUG_LOG_REQUESTS (request replay logs to temp dir), OLLAMA_LOAD_TIMEOUT (stall detection), OLLAMA_NOPRUNE (disable startup deletion), OLLAMA_HOST/OLLAMA_MODELS (paths/bind) — [envconfig/config.go#L201-L240](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/envconfig/config.go#L201-L240) [envconfig/config.go#L315-L340](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/envconfig/config.go#L315-L340) [server/inference_request_log.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/inference_request_log.go)
- Test commands: `go test -count=1 ./...` locally (some packages need CGO/native payload), `go test -race ./...` mirrors CI race job, `npm test`/`npm run build` under app/ui/app; integration tests are opt-in (need pulled models + running server) — [.github/workflows/test.yaml#L451-L501](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/.github/workflows/test.yaml#L451-L501) [integration/README.md](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/integration/README.md) [app/ui/app/package.json](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/app/ui/app/package.json)
- Platform-conditional code uses file-suffix build tags (llm_linux.go, llm_darwin.go, llm_windows.go, editor_unix.go, start_darwin.go) — edit the right variant and keep signatures identical across OSes — [llm/llm_linux.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/llm/llm_linux.go) [llm/llm_darwin.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/llm/llm_darwin.go) [cmd/editor_unix.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/cmd/editor_unix.go) [cmd/start_darwin.go](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/cmd/start_darwin.go)
- Gin runs in DebugMode by default (mode var = gin.DebugMode with a defensive switch); don't rely on release-mode assumptions in handlers — [server/routes.go#L95-L114](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/routes.go#L95-L114)
- The repo mixes vendored native code (llama/ llama.cpp fork, mlx/) with Go; changes under llama/server or cmake/ trigger the `patches` CI job verifying patches apply — avoid touching unless intentional — [.github/workflows/test.yaml#L35-L80](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/.github/workflows/test.yaml#L35-L80) [LLAMA_CPP_VERSION](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/LLAMA_CPP_VERSION) [MLX_VERSION](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/MLX_VERSION)
- Progress reporting convention: long operations (pull/create/push) emit api.ProgressResponse structs over a channel consumed by streamResponse — new streaming endpoints should reuse that pattern — [server/routes.go#L1161-L1193](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/routes.go#L1161-L1193) [server/download.go#L446-L476](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/6383a0fa9cbf97494b847226e189f6e36b401a08/server/download.go#L446-L476)

Every claim links to its cited files at the pinned commit. Citations identify source evidence; they do not establish runtime correctness. Independent CodeVetter scan — not reviewed by upstream maintainers.

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