Modelfile Syntax for Ollama

The complete language-tooling experience for Ollama Modelfiles, in every VSCode-family editor.

What this is, in one sentence: Open any Modelfile in VSCode, VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf, vscode.dev, or github.dev and get syntax coloring for every Ollama instruction, real-time linting for 18 classes of mistake, hover documentation on every PARAMETER, autocomplete for instructions / parameters / template variables, and 26+ snippets for common patterns — all offline, all in pure TypeScript, no network calls.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Install
• Quick start
• Modelfile reference — canonical instruction + PARAMETER tables
• Linter rules — OM001 through OM018
• Snippets
• Configuration
• FAQ
• Comparison vs. other extensions
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• About the author
• License
• Acknowledgments

Features

• TextMate-grade syntax highlighting for every Ollama Modelfile instruction: FROM, PARAMETER, TEMPLATE, SYSTEM, ADAPTER, LICENSE, MESSAGE, REQUIRES, RENDERER, PARSER, DRAFT.
• Real-time linter with 18 diagnostic rules — catches unknown PARAMETER names, type mismatches, missing/duplicate FROM, invalid MESSAGE roles, deprecated parameters, single-quote truncation, default-context-window foot-guns, unterminated triple-quoted strings, and more.
• Hover documentation for every instruction and every PARAMETER — type, default, valid range, and a one-line description, sourced from the canonical Ollama spec.
• Autocomplete for instruction keywords, PARAMETER names, MESSAGE roles, and Go template variables (.System, .Prompt, .Messages, .Tools, .Response).
• 26+ snippets for common patterns: Llama 3 / Qwen 2.5 / ChatML / Phi-3 chat templates, RAG-grounded system prompts, coder personas, full-file starters.
• Embedded Go template highlighting inside TEMPLATE """...""" bodies — keywords (if, range, end), variables (.System, .Messages), and pipes are colorized.
• Works in the browser — vscode.dev and github.dev support out of the box. No child_process, no fs — pure-JS bundle.
• Cross-editor compatible — published to both the Visual Studio Marketplace and the Open VSX Registry, so it works in VSCode, VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf, Gitpod, and GitHub Codespaces.
• No telemetry. No network calls. No surprises.

Install

The extension activates automatically for files named Modelfile, Modelfile.*, or any file with the .modelfile extension.

Quick start

Create a file named Modelfile in your project. You'll get instant syntax coloring and real-time validation. Try:

FROM llama3.2

PARAMETER temperature 0.7
PARAMETER num_ctx 8192

SYSTEM """You are a concise senior engineer. Answer in 1–3 sentences."""

Hover over temperature → see its type, default, and recommended range. Type PARAMETER → autocomplete every valid parameter name. Make a typo like PARAMETER bogus 1 → see the red squiggle (OM005).

Or use a snippet: type modelfile-chat and press Tab to scaffold a complete conversational Modelfile.

Modelfile reference

The tables below are the canonical, machine-readable reference codified inside the extension's linter. They are cross-validated against github.com/ollama/ollama/parser, docs.ollama.com/modelfile, and ollama.readthedocs.io.

Instructions

All instructions are case-insensitive. FROM is required and must be the first non-comment instruction in the file.

PARAMETER catalog

Deprecated parameters (the linter emits OM010 warnings): penalize_newline, low_vram, f16_kv, logits_all, vocab_only, use_mlock, num_gqa.

MESSAGE roles

Exactly three: system, user, assistant. Anything else triggers OM008.

TEMPLATE variables

Available inside {{ ... }} expressions in any TEMPLATE body:

FROM argument forms

FROM llama3.2                                       # bare model name
FROM llama3.2:8b                                    # tagged
FROM llama3.2:7b-instruct-q4_K_M                    # tagged with quantization
FROM registry.ollama.ai/library/llama3:latest       # registry path
FROM hf.co/Qwen/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct-GGUF            # HuggingFace
FROM ./qwen2.5-7b-instruct-q4_k_m.gguf              # relative GGUF
FROM /opt/models/llama.gguf                         # absolute path
FROM ~/models/qwen.gguf                             # home-relative
FROM ./qwen2.5-7b-instruct/                         # safetensors directory

Linter rules

Every rule has a stable ID, severity, and an actionable message. Disable any rule via the modelfileSyntax.lint.disabledRules setting.

Full rule explanations with before/after examples: docs/rules.md.

Snippets

Type the prefix and press Tab.

Configuration

Open VSCode settings (Ctrl/Cmd+,) and search "Ollama Modelfile":

FAQ

What is an Ollama Modelfile?

A Modelfile is a small declarative file (similar in spirit to a Dockerfile) that tells the Ollama runtime how to assemble a custom local LLM: which base model to use, what system prompt to apply, what sampling parameters to set, what conversation history to pre-load, and how to format prompts via Go templates. You build a Modelfile, then run ollama create my-model -f Modelfile to register it.

How do I create a custom Ollama model?

1. Install this extension.
2. Create a file named Modelfile (no extension).
3. Type modelfile-chat and press Tab to scaffold a starter, or copy the Quick start example.
4. From the terminal, run ollama create my-model -f Modelfile.
5. Chat with it: ollama run my-model.

Why is my SYSTEM prompt showing as truncated?

Most likely you wrote SYSTEM "first line\nsecond line" (single double-quotes). Ollama treats the single "..." form as one line — anything after the first newline is dropped. Use triple quotes for multi-line content: SYSTEM """first line\nsecond line""". The linter catches this as OM011.

Does this extension work in VSCodium / Cursor / Windsurf?

Yes. It is published to both the Visual Studio Marketplace (used by VSCode, Cursor, Windsurf, vscode.dev) and the Open VSX Registry (used by VSCodium, Gitpod, Codespaces). See Install for editor-specific commands.

Does it require a network connection?

No. The grammar, linter, hover docs, completions, and snippets all run locally in the extension host. There are no telemetry calls, no remote model lookups, no analytics.

Can I disable individual linter rules?

Yes. Set modelfileSyntax.lint.disabledRules to an array of rule IDs in your VSCode settings. For example, to silence the default-context-size warning and the too-many-stops warning:

"modelfileSyntax.lint.disabledRules": ["OM012", "OM015"]

Does this run ollama to validate?

No. All validation is static — the extension never invokes the ollama CLI. This means it works offline, in vscode.dev, and on machines that don't have Ollama installed. Side effect: the extension can't catch errors that only show up at ollama create time (e.g., a malformed adapter file). For full semantic validation, run ollama create --dry-run.

How does this compare to other extensions?

See Comparison.

Where do I report a bug or suggest a feature?

GitHub Issues. Bug reports should include the Modelfile snippet that reproduces the issue, the editor, and the extension version.

Is there a Neovim / Emacs / Helix version?

Not yet. The TextMate grammar can be reused in any editor that supports TextMate grammars (LunarVim, Helix). LSP-mode support is on the roadmap for v0.3 — until then, syntax-only highlighting is straightforward to wire up by referencing syntaxes/modelfile.tmLanguage.json from this repo.

Comparison vs. other extensions

Roadmap

• v0.1 — this release: grammar, 18 linter rules, hover, completion, snippets.
• v0.2 — Markdown / Jinja injection grammars inside SYSTEM / TEMPLATE bodies for richer formatting.
• v0.3 — Language Server Protocol mode for Neovim / Helix / Emacs.
• v0.4 — Optional ollama create --dry-run integration for true semantic validation.

Track progress on the project board.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the local dev loop, the grammar-snapshot-test workflow, and the linter-rule contribution checklist.

git clone https://github.com/ahnafnafee/modelfile-syntax
cd modelfile-syntax
npm install
npm run build:grammar
npm run build
npm test
npm run test:grammar
npm run package   # produces modelfile-syntax-X.Y.Z.vsix

Open the folder in VSCode and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension under test.

About the author

Built by Ahnaf An Nafee — ahnafnafee.dev — @ahnafnafee on GitHub.

If this extension saves you time, the kindest thing you can do is leave a Marketplace review and link to it from your blog / repo. (No sponsor button — yet.)

License

MIT © Ahnaf An Nafee. Use it, fork it, redistribute it; just keep the license notice.

Acknowledgments

• Ollama — for the runtime and the Modelfile format itself. This extension would not exist without the years of work the Ollama team put into making local LLMs practical.
• jeff-hykin/better-cpp-syntax — for setting the bar on what a serious community grammar extension looks like.
• nefrob/vscode-just — for the YAML-source-to-JSON-grammar pattern that this extension cribs.
• The LocalAI Master guide and the Ollama docs — for documenting the real-world Modelfile gotchas the linter now catches automatically.