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MCP Ollama Manager Extension

A VS Code extension for managing the MCP Ollama Python server — start, stop, configure and monitor your Ollama MCP server directly from Visual Studio Code.

Features

  • Server Management — Start, stop, and restart the MCP Ollama server with simple commands
  • Status Monitoring — Real-time server status in the status bar with health checks
  • Configuration Management — Easy configuration of server settings through VS Code settings
  • Log Viewing — Built-in output channel for server logs and monitoring
  • Ollama Models Sidebar — Browse all locally installed models in a dedicated Explorer tree view; visible when the server is running with a refresh button in the view title
  • Model Management — Pull, delete, list running models, and view detailed model information
  • AI Tools — Chat with models, generate text, create embeddings, explain code, write docstrings
  • Auto-start Option — Configure the server to start automatically with VS Code

Requirements

Automatic dependency check: On every VS Code startup the extension silently verifies that mcp-ollama-python is installed. If it is missing a warning notification appears with an Install Now button that runs pip install mcp-ollama-python and streams output to the MCP Ollama Server output channel.

Quick Start

  1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace (search MCP Ollama Manager)
  2. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run MCP Ollama: Configure Server
  3. Set your mcp-ollama.serverHost if Ollama is not on localhost
  4. Run MCP Ollama: Start Server

Configuration

Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for MCP Ollama.

Setting Type Default Description
mcp-ollama.serverHost string localhost Hostname where Ollama is running. When empty, falls back to the OLLAMA_HOST environment variable, then localhost. Examples: localhost, ai, 192.168.1.100
mcp-ollama.pythonPath string (auto) Path to Python executable; auto-detected if empty
mcp-ollama.autoStart boolean false Automatically start the server when VS Code starts
mcp-ollama.logLevel string info Log level for the MCP Ollama server (debug, info, warning, error)
mcp-ollama.extensionLogLevel string info Log level for the VS Code extension itself (debug, info, warning, error)

Commands

All commands are available via the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

Command Description
MCP Ollama: Start Server Start the MCP Ollama server
MCP Ollama: Stop Server Stop the MCP Ollama server
MCP Ollama: Restart Server Restart the MCP Ollama server
MCP Ollama: Show Server Status Display current server status and configuration
MCP Ollama: Configure Server Open configuration options
MCP Ollama: View Server Logs Show the server output channel
MCP Ollama: Open Log File Open the extension log file in the editor
MCP Ollama: Clear Logs Clear both output channel and log file
MCP Ollama: List Available Models Browse models with size and modification date
MCP Ollama: Refresh Models Refresh the Ollama Models sidebar tree
MCP Ollama: Chat with Model Start a chat session with a model
MCP Ollama: Generate Text Generate text using a model
MCP Ollama: Create Embedding Create text embeddings
MCP Ollama: Show Model Details Show details for a specific model
MCP Ollama: Pull Model Download a model from Ollama
MCP Ollama: Delete Model Remove an installed model
MCP Ollama: List Running Models Show currently loaded models
MCP Ollama: Explain Code Use AI to explain selected code
MCP Ollama: Write Docstring Generate a docstring for selected code

Ollama Models Sidebar

The Ollama Models view appears in the Explorer sidebar whenever the server is running.

  • Each entry shows the model name and size on disk
  • Hover over an entry for the full digest and last-modified date
  • Click the Refresh icon in the view title to reload the list
  • The list clears automatically when the server stops
  • The sidebar refreshes automatically after a Pull or Delete operation

Architecture

The extension communicates with the MCP Ollama Python server over stdio/JSON-RPC (Model Context Protocol). It does not query Ollama's HTTP API directly — all Ollama access goes through the MCP server.

VS Code Extension (TypeScript)
    │  stdio / JSON-RPC (MCP Protocol)
    ▼
MCP Ollama Python Server
    │  HTTP REST API (port 11434)
    ▼
Ollama Native Server

For full architecture details see ARCHITECTURE.md.

Logging

See LOGGING.md for detailed logging documentation including log file locations, log levels, and debugging tips.

Installation from Source

git clone https://github.com/pblagoje/mcp-ollama-extension.git
cd mcp-ollama-extension
npm install
npm run build:prod
npm run package
code --install-extension mcp-ollama-extension-*.vsix

Support

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.