Ollama Code provides a comprehensive suite of tools for interacting with the local file system. These tools allow the model to read from, write to, list, search, and modify files and directories, all under your control and typically with confirmation for sensitive operations.
Note: All file system tools operate within a rootDirectory (usually the current working directory where you launched the CLI) for security. Paths that you provide to these tools are generally expected to be absolute or are resolved relative to this root directory.
list_directory (ListFiles)list_directory lists the names of files and subdirectories directly within a specified directory path. It can optionally ignore entries matching provided glob patterns.
list_directoryls.tspath (string, required): The absolute path to the directory to list.ignore (array of strings, optional): A list of glob patterns to exclude from the listing (e.g., ["*.log", ".git"]).respect_git_ignore (boolean, optional): Whether to respect .gitignore patterns when listing files. Defaults to true.llmContent): A string like: Directory listing for /path/to/your/folder:\n[DIR] subfolder1\nfile1.txt\nfile2.pngread_file (ReadFile)read_file reads and returns the content of a specified file. This tool handles text, images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP, SVG, BMP), and PDF files. For text files, it can read specific line ranges. Other binary file types are generally skipped.
read_fileread-file.tspath (string, required): The absolute path to the file to read.offset (number, optional): For text files, the 0-based line number to start reading from. Requires limit to be set.limit (number, optional): For text files, the maximum number of lines to read. If omitted, reads a default maximum (e.g., 2000 lines) or the entire file if feasible.offset and limit are used, returns only that slice of lines. Indicates if content was truncated due to line limits or line length limits.llmContent):
[File content truncated: showing lines 1-100 of 500 total lines...]\nActual file content...).inlineData with mimeType and base64 data (e.g., { inlineData: { mimeType: 'image/png', data: 'base64encodedstring' } }).Cannot display content of binary file: /path/to/data.bin.write_file (WriteFile)write_file writes content to a specified file. If the file exists, it will be overwritten. If the file doesn’t exist, it (and any necessary parent directories) will be created.
write_filewrite-file.tsfile_path (string, required): The absolute path to the file to write to.content (string, required): The content to write into the file.content to the file_path.llmContent): A success message, e.g., Successfully overwrote file: /path/to/your/file.txt or Successfully created and wrote to new file: /path/to/new/file.txt.glob (Glob)glob finds files matching specific glob patterns (e.g., src/**/*.ts, *.md), returning absolute paths sorted by modification time (newest first).
globglob.tspattern (string, required): The glob pattern to match against (e.g., "*.py", "src/**/*.js").path (string, optional): The directory to search in. If not specified, the current working directory will be used.llmContent): A message like: Found 5 file(s) matching "*.ts" within /path/to/search/dir, sorted by modification time (newest first):\n---\n/path/to/file1.ts\n/path/to/subdir/file2.ts\n---\n[95 files truncated] ...grep_search (Grep)grep_search searches for a regular expression pattern within the content of files in a specified directory. Can filter files by a glob pattern. Returns the lines containing matches, along with their file paths and line numbers.
grep_searchgrep.ts (with ripGrep.ts as fallback)pattern (string, required): The regular expression pattern to search for in file contents (e.g., "function\\s+myFunction", "log.*Error").path (string, optional): File or directory to search in. Defaults to current working directory.glob (string, optional): Glob pattern to filter files (e.g. "*.js", "src/**/*.{ts,tsx}").limit (number, optional): Limit output to first N matching lines. Optional - shows all matches if not specified.Output (llmContent): A formatted string of matches, e.g.:
Found 3 matches for pattern "myFunction" in path "." (filter: "*.ts"):
---
src/utils.ts:15:export function myFunction() {
src/utils.ts:22: myFunction.call();
src/index.ts:5:import { myFunction } from './utils';
---
[0 lines truncated] ...
grep_search examplesSearch for a pattern with default result limiting:
grep_search(pattern="function\\s+myFunction", path="src")
Search for a pattern with custom result limiting:
grep_search(pattern="function", path="src", limit=50)
Search for a pattern with file filtering and custom result limiting:
grep_search(pattern="function", glob="*.js", limit=10)
edit (Edit)edit replaces text within a file. By default it requires old_string to match a single unique location; set replace_all to true when you intentionally want to change every occurrence. This tool is designed for precise, targeted changes and requires significant context around the old_string to ensure it modifies the correct location.
editedit.tsfile_path (string, required): The absolute path to the file to modify.old_string (string, required): The exact literal text to replace.
CRITICAL: This string must uniquely identify the single instance to change. It should include sufficient context around the target text, matching whitespace and indentation precisely. If old_string is empty, the tool attempts to create a new file at file_path with new_string as content.
new_string (string, required): The exact literal text to replace old_string with.replace_all (boolean, optional): Replace all occurrences of old_string. Defaults to false.old_string is empty and file_path does not exist, creates a new file with new_string as content.old_string is provided, it reads the file_path and attempts to find exactly one occurrence unless replace_all is true.replace_all is true), it replaces the text with new_string.old_string might not be perfectly precise, the tool incorporates a multi-stage edit correction mechanism.
old_string isn’t found or matches multiple locations, the tool can leverage the Qwen model to iteratively refine old_string (and potentially new_string).edit operation more robust even with slightly imperfect initial context.file_path is not absolute or is outside the root directory.old_string is not empty, but the file_path does not exist.old_string is empty, but the file_path already exists.old_string is not found in the file after attempts to correct it.old_string is found multiple times, replace_all is false, and the self-correction mechanism cannot resolve it to a single, unambiguous match.llmContent):
Successfully modified file: /path/to/file.txt (1 replacements). or Created new file: /path/to/new_file.txt with provided content.Failed to edit, 0 occurrences found..., Failed to edit because the text matches multiple locations...).These file system tools provide a foundation for Ollama Code to understand and interact with your local project context.