Pass a list of functions/tools to client like in the API #118

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2026-02-15T16:28:06-05:00

yindo commented

2026-02-15 16:28:06 -05:00

Originally created by @jmorzeck on GitHub (Jul 24, 2024).

Hi there, with more and more models supporting function calling now, I am missing a way to pass a list of functions (tools) to the client. This what works perfectly calling the API:

model = "llama3.1:70b"

tools = [
    {
        "type": "function",
        "function": {
            "name": "retrieve_payment_status",
            "description": "Get payment status of a transaction",
            "parameters": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "transaction_id": {
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "The transaction id."
                    }
                },
                "required": ["transaction_id"]
            }
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "function",
        "function": {
            "name": "retrieve_payment_date",
            "description": "Get payment date of a transaction",
            "parameters": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "transaction_id": {
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "The transaction id."
                    }
                },
                "required": ["transaction_id"]
            }
        }
    }
]

messages = [
    {
        "content": "What is the status and payment date of my transaction T1001?",
        "role": "user"
    }
]

data = {
    "messages": messages,
    "tools": tools,
    "model": model,
    "temperature": 0.3
}

response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions',
                         headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
                         json=data)

With this, I get a response with the different tool choices and their parameters.

However, I am missing the feature to pass the list of tools to the client. I was thinking of something like this:

ollama_client = Client(host='http://localhost:11434')
response = ollama_client.chat(model=model, messages=messages, tools=tools)

Is there a way to do this without passing the tools into the system prompt? Apologies if I didn't find it elsewhere.

Originally created by @jmorzeck on GitHub (Jul 24, 2024). Hi there, with more and more models supporting function calling now, I am missing a way to pass a list of functions (tools) to the client. This what works perfectly calling the API: ```python model = "llama3.1:70b" tools = [ { "type": "function", "function": { "name": "retrieve_payment_status", "description": "Get payment status of a transaction", "parameters": { "type": "object", "properties": { "transaction_id": { "type": "string", "description": "The transaction id." } }, "required": ["transaction_id"] } } }, { "type": "function", "function": { "name": "retrieve_payment_date", "description": "Get payment date of a transaction", "parameters": { "type": "object", "properties": { "transaction_id": { "type": "string", "description": "The transaction id." } }, "required": ["transaction_id"] } } } ] messages = [ { "content": "What is the status and payment date of my transaction T1001?", "role": "user" } ] data = { "messages": messages, "tools": tools, "model": model, "temperature": 0.3 } response = requests.post('http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions', headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}, json=data) ``` With this, I get a response with the different tool choices and their parameters. However, I am missing the feature to pass the list of tools to the client. I was thinking of something like this: ```python ollama_client = Client(host='http://localhost:11434') response = ollama_client.chat(model=model, messages=messages, tools=tools) ``` Is there a way to do this without passing the tools into the system prompt? Apologies if I didn't find it elsewhere.

yindo closed this issue

2026-02-15 16:28:06 -05:00

yindo commented

2026-02-15 16:28:06 -05:00

@anthonywu commented on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024):

I think this was implemented in chat(...): #213 https://github.com/ollama/ollama-python/pull/213/files#diff-0f246a9c084dd2ef9d4a58c02fb818ac4a114c34877e558cac88ab351daae9eeR183

help(ollama.Client.chat) in latest client main branch:P

 |  chat(self, ..., tools: Optional[Sequence[ollama._types.Tool]] = None, ...

@anthonywu commented on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024): I think this was implemented in `chat(...)`: #213 https://github.com/ollama/ollama-python/pull/213/files#diff-0f246a9c084dd2ef9d4a58c02fb818ac4a114c34877e558cac88ab351daae9eeR183 `help(ollama.Client.chat)` in latest client `main` branch:P ``` | chat(self, ..., tools: Optional[Sequence[ollama._types.Tool]] = None, ... ```

yindo commented

2026-02-15 16:28:06 -05:00