OllamaSharp: Instructions file for Codex

AGENTS.md — OllamaSharp

Project Overview

OllamaSharp is a C# .NET library providing bindings for the Ollama API. It targets netstandard2.0, netstandard2.1, net8.0, net9.0, and net10.0. The library implements IChatClient and IEmbeddingGenerator from Microsoft.Extensions.AI. It includes a Roslyn source generator ([OllamaTool]).

How OllamaSharp Fits in the .NET AI Ecosystem

OllamaSharp is designed to match the native Ollama API 1:1 — every endpoint is covered. However, when building more complex AI applications or solutions that may swap providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, Ollama, etc.), users should strongly consider layering standard frameworks on top:

• Microsoft.Extensions.AI (MEAI) — A lightweight abstraction layer defining IChatClient and IEmbeddingGenerator<T, TEmbedding>. OllamaSharp natively implements both interfaces, so it works as a drop-in MEAI provider. Using MEAI gives telemetry, dependency injection, middleware pipelines, and provider interchangeability for free. This is the recommended starting point for most applications. MEAI also provides its own function calling / tool use pipeline via IChatClient — tools are defined as AIFunction instances and the framework handles the tool-call loop, JSON schema generation, and result marshalling automatically. For most tool-use scenarios, this is simpler and more portable than using OllamaSharp's native tool system directly.

• Microsoft Agent Framework (successor to Microsoft Semantic Kernel) — For advanced agentic scenarios with planning, memory, multi-agent orchestration, and sophisticated tool use. The Agent Framework goes further than MEAI by providing automatic tool-call orchestration across multiple turns, dependency-injected tool classes with state, retry policies, and multi-agent collaboration — all backed by the IChatClient abstraction. OllamaSharp serves as the Ollama provider under the hood, meaning it doesn't become obsolete — it powers these frameworks.