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Ollama Getting Started (Llama 3, Mac, Apple Silicon)

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

info
  • 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​

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
  • Here are some example prompts

Chat completion prompt​

>>> Mary had a

Code prompt​

write a hello world program in javascript
note
  • The llama2 model was not known for its coding skills, but llama3 should be better
  • I will post at the end of this document info on how Code Llama was integrated into llama3

Step 5. View help at the prompt​

To get help at the prompt, enter this command and hit return:

/?

Step 6. Stop chatting​

To exit the chat, enter this prompt (note the '/')):

/bye

Step 7. Get help from the command line​

Previously I showed you how to get help in ollama at the prompt level.

To get help from the ollama command-line interface (cli), just run the command with no arguments:

ollama

To see a list of currently installed models, run this:

ollama list

In my case I see this:

NAME         	ID          	SIZE  	MODIFIED       
llama3:latest	a6990ed6be41	4.7 GB	34 minutes ago

Step 8. Cleanup​

Currently, the llama3 model takes up 4.7 GB.

To free up the disk space on your computer, you can remove the model with this command:

ollama rm llama3

You can always download it and run it again later with the ollama run command.

Conclusion​

In this article you learned how to:

  • Install ollama on a Mac
  • Run ollama to download and run the Llama 3 LLM
  • Chat with the model from the command line
  • View help while chatting with the model
  • Get help from the command line utility
  • List the current models installed
  • Remove a model to free up disk space

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.

References​