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Streamline your local AI model workflow with the Ollama CLI. If you have experience with Docker, many of these commands will feel instantly familiar.
Most Ollama commands mirror Docker syntax for running, listing, and managing images—making it easy to get started if you’ve used Docker before.

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Quick Reference

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ollama run

Start a model session. If the specified model isn’t on your machine, Ollama will:
  1. Download its manifest and layers
  2. Verify the SHA-256 digests
  3. Save the manifest locally
  4. Launch an interactive chat interface

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ollama stop

When you run a model in the background (e.g., via & on Unix), stop it gracefully with:
This frees up GPU/CPU resources immediately.

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ollama list

List all models stored on your local host, along with their IDs, sizes, and last modification times. Use this to identify large or outdated models:

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ollama rm

Remove a model from your system to reclaim disk space. You can always re-pull it later.

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ollama pull

If you want to prefetch a model without starting it immediately, use:
After pulling, a subsequent ollama run MODEL_NAME will skip downloads.

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ollama show

Inspect model metadata—such as license details and quantization format—without running it:
You can also view model details on the Ollama website or from within a running session via the /show command.

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ollama ps

Similar to docker ps, this command lists all active model processes, their resource consumption, and remaining runtime:
Keep an eye on running models. Stopping unused ones prevents unnecessary GPU/CPU usage and conserves system memory.
These core commands will help you manage Ollama models effectively. Happy modeling!

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