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POST /api/generate

Generate a text completion from a single prompt. This is a simpler alternative to the chat endpoint for single-turn text generation.

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Request Body

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model
string
required
The name of the model to use. Must be one of the available models from your models.json configuration or built-in models (e.g., gpt-4o-mini, gemini-2.5-flash, deepseek-r1).
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prompt
string
required
The text prompt to generate a completion for.
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stream
boolean
default:"false"
Enable streaming responses. When true, responses are returned as newline-delimited JSON chunks.
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context
array
default:"[]"
Optional context array for maintaining state across requests.
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images
array
Optional array of images in base64 format or HTTP(S) URLs for vision-capable models. Only JPEG format is supported.
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options
object
Optional parameters to control generation behavior.
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options.temperature
number
Controls randomness in generation (0.0 to 1.0). Higher values make output more creative.
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options.top_p
number
Nucleus sampling parameter (0.0 to 1.0). Controls diversity of generated text.
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options.num_predict
number
Maximum number of tokens to generate.

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Response

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Non-Streaming Response

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model
string
The name of the model used.
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created_at
string
ISO 8601 timestamp of when the response was created.
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response
string
The generated text completion.
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done
boolean
Always true for non-streaming responses.
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context
array
Context array that can be passed to subsequent requests.
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reasoning
string
Optional reasoning chain (for models like DeepSeek R1 that support reasoning).

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Streaming Response

When stream: true, the response is sent as newline-delimited JSON chunks:
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model
string
The name of the model used.
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created_at
string
ISO 8601 timestamp for this chunk.
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response
string
The text delta for this chunk (empty string in final chunk).
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done
boolean
false for intermediate chunks, true for the final chunk.
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context
array
Context array (only present in final chunk).
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reasoning
string
Optional reasoning chain (only present in final chunk for supported models).

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Examples

curl -X POST http://localhost:11434/api/generate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "prompt": "Explain quantum computing in simple terms"
  }'

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Response Examples

{
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "created_at": "2026-03-11T10:30:00.000Z",
  "response": "Quantum computing is a revolutionary approach to computation that uses quantum mechanics...",
  "done": true,
  "context": []
}
The generate endpoint internally converts your prompt into a single user message and calls the same generation logic as the chat endpoint. For multi-turn conversations, use the /api/chat endpoint instead.

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