The Ollama Model Registry: Your AI Library

Think of the Ollama Model Registry as the "App Store" or "NPM" for local LLMs. It is a centralized repository where the Ollama team and the community host pre-configured models that are ready to run with a single command.

How to Access the Registry

While you can see models in the CLI using ollama list, the best way to browse is visually at: ollama.com/library

What you'll find there:

• Search Bar: To find specific models by name (e.g., "CodeLlama" or "DeepSeek").
• Categories: Grouping models by use case (Vision, Coding, Small/Fast).
• Stats: View "Pull count" to see what the community is actually using.

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The Model Page: What to Look For

When you click on a model (like gemma2), the page provides critical information:

1. The Description

This tells you what the model was designed for. Some models are "Generalists" (like Llama 3), while others are "Specialists" (like CodeLlama for programming).

2. The Command

Usually in the top right, it shows exactly what to copy/paste: ollama run gemma2.

3. Tags (The most important part)

Under the "Tags" tab, you will see many versions of the same model.

• gemma2:9b
• gemma2:27b
• gemma2:latest

We will deep dive into these tags in the next lesson, but essentially, they represent different sizes and qualities.

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Official vs. Community Models

In the registry, you will see two types of entries:

• Official Models: These are managed by the Ollama team. They are verified to work perfectly, have high-quality descriptions, and are usually the most popular (Llama 3, Mistral, etc.).
• User Models: Similar to Docker Hub, users can upload their own specialized models. You access these by prefixing the username: ollama run username/model-name.

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Why Use the Registry Instead of Hugging Face?

You might wonder why we don't just download every model from Hugging Face. The Registry models are:

1. Optimized for Mac/Windows/Linux: They are already in the correct "GGUF" format.
2. Pre-configured: They include a "Modelfile" that tells Ollama exactly how much memory to use and what the default system prompt should be.
3. Fast Downloads: Ollama's CDN (Content Delivery Network) is extremely fast and reliable.

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Summary Checklist

1. Visit ollama.com/library.
2. Find the "Trending" models.
3. Click on llama3.1 and look at the "Tags" list.

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Key Takeaways

• The Ollama Library is the easiest way to discover new models.
• Official models are the safest and best-optimized starting points.
• Every model in the library is a one-click install via the ollama run command.