OpenAI SDK Drop-in in Ollama

From the Ollama cheat sheet · OpenAI Compatibility · verified Jul 2026

OpenAI SDK Drop-in

Point the OpenAI SDK at Ollama for local inference with no code changes.

python

# Python — use OpenAI SDK with Ollama
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
  base_url='http://localhost:11434/v1/',
  api_key='ollama',  # required but ignored
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
  model='llama3.2',
  messages=[{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Hello!'}],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

💡 Just change base_url to localhost:11434/v1/ — the API key is required but ignored

⚡ Supports /v1/chat/completions, /v1/completions, /v1/embeddings, and /v1/models

📌 Use "ollama cp" to alias models to OpenAI names for zero-code-change migration

🟢 Great for testing apps locally before switching to cloud API providers

openaicompatibilitysdk

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