Install Ollama on MacOS

what is Ollama?

Ollama is an open-source tool that allows you to run and customize large language models locally on your own machine.

Here are some key points about Ollama:

• Local Integration: Ollama enables you to work with language models directly on your machine, avoiding the need for external services or APIs.
• Model Support: It supports various language models, including Llama 3, Mistral, Gemma, and more. You can choose the model that best suits your needs.
• CLI and REST API: Ollama provides a command-line interface (CLI) for running and customizing models. Additionally, it offers a REST API for programmatic access.
• Customization: You can create and customize models using Ollama. For example, you can adjust parameters like temperature to control creativity and coherence.
• Model Library: Ollama includes a library of pre-trained models that you can download and use. These models cover a range of sizes and capabilities.
• RAM Requirements: Keep in mind that running larger models (e.g., 7B models) may require a minimum of 8 GB of available RAM.

In this article, I will show you how to get started with Ollama on a Mac.

• These instructions were written for and tested on a Mac (M1, 8GB).
• You will have much better success on a Mac that uses Apple Silicon (M1, etc.).
• The model will require 5GB of free disk space, which you can free up when not in use.

Step 1. Download and install Ollama

• Browse to: https://ollama.com
• Click the Download button
• Or you could just browse to: https://ollama.com/download
• Click Download for macOS

On a Mac, (at the time of this writing) this will download a *.zip file to your ~/Downloads folder.

In Finder double click the *.zip file to extract the contents This should extract Ollama.app to your ~/Downloads folder Drag Ollama.app to your Applications folder You can then delete the downloaded zip file to save space

Step 2. Setup Ollama

After you download Ollama you will need to run the setup wizard:

In Finder, browse to the Applications folder Double-click on Ollama When you see the warning, click Open Go through the setup wizard where it should prompt you to install the command line version (ollama) Then it will give you instructions for running a model At the time of this writing, the default instructions show llama2, but llama3 works too Click Finish

Step 3. Run llama 3

You could follow the instruction to run llama 2, but let's jump right in with llama 3 Open a new Terminal window Run this command (note that for this command llama3 is one word):

ollama run llama3

The first time you run that for a new model, it will download the latest version

Step 4. Chat with llama 3

After the model is downloaded, you should see a prompt like this:

>>> Send a message (/? for help)

At the prompt, start chatting with it like any other LLM

Additional models

You can use other models, besides just llama2 and llama3.

For more models, click the Models tab on https://ollama.com or visit: https://ollama.com/library

Code Llama and Llama 3

Here is what meta.ai says about Code Llama and Llama 3

Code Llama, a separate AI model designed for code understanding and generation, was integrated into LLaMA 3 (Large Language Model Meta AI) to enhance its coding capabilities. This integration enabled LLaMA 3 to leverage Code Llama's expertise in code-related tasks, such as:

Code completion Code generation Code explanation Code review The integration allows LLaMA 3 to tap into Code Llama's knowledge base, which was trained on a massive dataset of code from various sources, including open-source repositories and coding platforms. This enables LLaMA 3 to provide more accurate and informative responses to coding-related queries and tasks. In essence, the integration of Code Llama into LLaMA 3 creates a powerful hybrid AI model that can tackle a wide range of tasks, from general knowledge and conversation to coding and software development.

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments.