ollama - ✅(Solved) Fix Feature request: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration [1 pull requests, 1 participants]

ollama2026-03-10 10:10:36

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ollama/ollama#14760•Fetched 2026-04-08 00:32:00

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kenelite

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I would like to propose a small CLI feature to make it easier to migrate an Ollama environment between machines.

The idea is to support a workflow similar to pip freeze / pip install -r:

ollama export: exports the list of installed models to stdout or a file
ollama pull -r <file>: batch pulls models from an “export” file

This would allow users to easily back up and restore their model setup.

Root Cause

I would like to propose a small CLI feature to make it easier to migrate an Ollama environment between machines.

The idea is to support a workflow similar to pip freeze / pip install -r:

ollama export: exports the list of installed models to stdout or a file
ollama pull -r <file>: batch pulls models from an “export” file

This would allow users to easily back up and restore their model setup.

PR fix notes

PR #13816: cmd: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration

Repository: ollama/ollama
Author: kenelite
State: open | merged: False
Link: https://github.com/ollama/ollama/pull/13816

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

I would like to propose a small CLI feature to make it easier to migrate an Ollama environment between machines.

The idea is to support a workflow similar to pip freeze / pip install -r:

ollama export: exports the list of installed models to stdout or a file
ollama pull -r <file>: batch pulls models from an “export” file

This would allow users to easily back up and restore their model setup.

Problem

Today, when moving from one machine to another (e.g., laptop → server, old server → new server), users need to:

Manually remember which models they had installed
Manually re-run multiple ollama pull commands
Potentially forget some models or make mistakes

There is no built-in, reproducible way to “snapshot” the current model list and restore it elsewhere.

Proposed solution

Add two pieces of functionality to the ollama CLI:

1. `ollama export`

Lists installed (local) models using the existing API
Outputs a text format that is easy to read and parse
Supports writing to stdout or to a file
Skips remote/cloud-only models by commenting them out

Example output:

# Ollama models export
# Generated at: 2026-01-21T12:34:56Z
# Use 'ollama pull -r <file>' to restore these models

llama3.1:8b
qwen2.5:7b
# (remote) some-remote-only-model

Example usage:

ollama export
ollama export -o models.txt

2. `ollama pull -r <file>`

Reads a “requirements-like” file line by line
Ignores empty lines and lines starting with #
For each remaining line, calls the existing pull logic
Prints a summary of any failures at the end

Example usage:

# On the source machine
ollama export -o models.txt

# Copy file to target
scp models.txt target:~/

# On the target machine
ollama pull -r models.txt

Benefits

Simple environment migration: easy way to mirror an Ollama setup across machines.
Backups: users can keep a text file snapshot of their current models.
Consistency: follows a very familiar pattern from other ecosystems (e.g. pip, conda).

Implementation notes

I have opened a PR with a concrete implementation and tests:

PR: https://github.com/ollama/ollama/pull/13816

High-level details:

Adds an export subcommand in cmd/cmd.go with a handler that:
- Uses the existing API client to list models
- Writes a header and model names to stdout or an output file
- Comments out remote-only models (can’t be pulled directly)
Extends ollama pull with a -r/--requirements flag:
- When provided, it reads models from a file and pulls them in batch
- Reuses the existing pull logic to avoid code duplication
Includes unit tests for both export and pull -r behaviors.

I’m happy to adjust naming, flags, or behavior to better fit the maintainers’ vision.

Questions for maintainers

Is this kind of environment-migration workflow something you’d be open to supporting in core?
Are export and pull -r acceptable names/UX, or would you prefer a different interface?
Are there any constraints or edge cases (e.g. cloud-only models, future registry changes) that you’d want the design to account for?

Changed files

cmd/cmd.go (modified, +152/-4)

Code Example

# Ollama models export
# Generated at: 2026-01-21T12:34:56Z
# Use 'ollama pull -r <file>' to restore these models

llama3.1:8b
qwen2.5:7b
# (remote) some-remote-only-model

---

ollama export
ollama export -o models.txt

---

# On the source machine
ollama export -o models.txt

# Copy file to target
scp models.txt target:~/

# On the target machine
ollama pull -r models.txt

RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Feature request: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration

Summary

I would like to propose a small CLI feature to make it easier to migrate an Ollama environment between machines.

The idea is to support a workflow similar to pip freeze / pip install -r:

ollama export: exports the list of installed models to stdout or a file
ollama pull -r <file>: batch pulls models from an “export” file

This would allow users to easily back up and restore their model setup.

Problem

Today, when moving from one machine to another (e.g., laptop → server, old server → new server), users need to:

Manually remember which models they had installed
Manually re-run multiple ollama pull commands
Potentially forget some models or make mistakes

There is no built-in, reproducible way to “snapshot” the current model list and restore it elsewhere.

Proposed solution

Add two pieces of functionality to the ollama CLI:

1. `ollama export`

Lists installed (local) models using the existing API
Outputs a text format that is easy to read and parse
Supports writing to stdout or to a file
Skips remote/cloud-only models by commenting them out

Example output:

# Ollama models export
# Generated at: 2026-01-21T12:34:56Z
# Use 'ollama pull -r <file>' to restore these models

llama3.1:8b
qwen2.5:7b
# (remote) some-remote-only-model

Example usage:

ollama export
ollama export -o models.txt

2. `ollama pull -r <file>`

Reads a “requirements-like” file line by line
Ignores empty lines and lines starting with #
For each remaining line, calls the existing pull logic
Prints a summary of any failures at the end

Example usage:

# On the source machine
ollama export -o models.txt

# Copy file to target
scp models.txt target:~/

# On the target machine
ollama pull -r models.txt

Benefits

Simple environment migration: easy way to mirror an Ollama setup across machines.
Backups: users can keep a text file snapshot of their current models.
Consistency: follows a very familiar pattern from other ecosystems (e.g. pip, conda).

Implementation notes

I have opened a PR with a concrete implementation and tests:

PR: https://github.com/ollama/ollama/pull/13816

High-level details:

Adds an export subcommand in cmd/cmd.go with a handler that:
- Uses the existing API client to list models
- Writes a header and model names to stdout or an output file
- Comments out remote-only models (can’t be pulled directly)
Extends ollama pull with a -r/--requirements flag:
- When provided, it reads models from a file and pulls them in batch
- Reuses the existing pull logic to avoid code duplication
Includes unit tests for both export and pull -r behaviors.

I’m happy to adjust naming, flags, or behavior to better fit the maintainers’ vision.

Questions for maintainers

Is this kind of environment-migration workflow something you’d be open to supporting in core?
Are export and pull -r acceptable names/UX, or would you prefer a different interface?
Are there any constraints or edge cases (e.g. cloud-only models, future registry changes) that you’d want the design to account for?

extent analysis

Fix Plan

To implement the proposed solution, follow these steps:

Add an export subcommand in cmd/cmd.go with a handler that:
- Uses the existing API client to list models
- Writes a header and model names to stdout or an output file
- Comments out remote-only models
Extend ollama pull with a -r/--requirements flag:
- When provided, it reads models from a file and pulls them in batch
- Reuses the existing pull logic to avoid code duplication

Example code snippets:

// cmd/cmd.go
func exportCmd() *cobra.Command {
    var output string
    cmd := &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "export",
        Short: "Export installed models to a file",
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
            // List models using existing API client
            models, err := listModels()
            if err!= nil {
                log.Fatal(err)
            }
            // Write header and model names to stdout or output file
            writeModels(models, output)
        },
    }
    cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&output, "output", "o", "", "Output file")
    return cmd
}

func pullCmd() *cobra.Command {
    var requirements string
    cmd := &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "pull",
        Short: "Pull models",
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
            // Check if -r flag is provided
            if requirements!= "" {
                // Read models from file and pull them in batch
                models, err := readModels(requirements)
                if err!= nil {
                    log.Fatal(err)
                }
                pullModels(models)
            } else {
                // Existing pull logic
            }
        },
    }
    cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&requirements, "requirements", "r", "", "Requirements file")
    return cmd
}

// Helper functions
func listModels() ([]string, error) {
    // Implement listing models using existing API client
}

func writeModels(models []string, output string) {
    // Implement writing models to stdout or output file
}

func readModels(requirements string) ([]string, error) {
    // Implement reading models from file
}

func pullModels(models []string) {
    // Implement pulling models in batch
}

Verification

To verify the fix, run the following commands:

ollama export to export installed models to stdout
ollama export -o models.txt to export installed models to a file
ollama pull -r models.txt to pull models from the file

Check that the output is as expected and that the models are pulled correctly.

Extra Tips

Make sure to handle errors and edge cases properly, such as cloud-only models and future registry changes.
Consider adding unit tests for the

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#api #ssr #installation #tensor shape #autograd error #training loop #device allocation #model download #tokenizer error

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ollama - ✅(Solved) Fix Feature request: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration [1 pull requests, 1 participants]

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Root Cause

PR fix notes

PR #13816: cmd: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

Problem

Proposed solution

1. ollama export

2. ollama pull -r <file>

Benefits

Implementation notes

Questions for maintainers

Changed files

Code Example

Feature request: add export command and pull -r flag for environment migration

Summary

Problem

Proposed solution

1. ollama export

2. ollama pull -r <file>

Benefits

Implementation notes

Questions for maintainers

extent analysis

Fix Plan

Verification

Extra Tips

Still need to ship something?

RELATED_DISCOVERY

TRENDING

1. `ollama export`

2. `ollama pull -r <file>`

1. `ollama export`

2. `ollama pull -r <file>`