Ollama Web Search API Integration

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Ollama Web Search API Integration with asp.net

Tuhin Paul · Answer

Compare Ollama as a brilliant scholar locked in a windowless library with books only up to 2023. If you ask about today's news, they can't answer. Tool Calling is like slipping a smartphone under the door. The scholar uses it to search the web, reads the results, and then writes you a perfect summary. simple ASP.NET Core Minimal API that uses Ollama Tool Calling to perform a web search. Note: We mock the actual search API call to keep the code short, but I've marked exactly where you plug in Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Tavily. using System.Text.Json; using System.Text.Json.Nodes; var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); var app = builder.Build(); app.MapGet("/search", async (string query) => { var client = new HttpClient(); var ollamaUrl = "http://localhost:11434/api/chat"; // 1. Define the "Smartphone" (The Web Search Tool) var tools = new object[] { new { type = "function", function = new { name = "web_search", description = "Search the web for current information, news, or facts.", parameters = new { type = "object", properties = new { query = new { type = "string", description = "The search query to look up" } }, required = new[] { "query" } } } } }; // 2. Ask Ollama the question and give it the tool var initialPayload = new { model = "llama3.1", // Must be a model that supports tools! messages = new[] { new { role = "user", content = query } }, tools = tools, stream = false }; var response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync(ollamaUrl, initialPayload); var result = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync (); var message = result["message"]; // 3. Check if Ollama wants to use the smartphone (Tool Call) if (message["tool_calls"] is JsonArray toolCalls) { // Extract the search query Ollama wants to make var searchQuery = toolCalls[0]["function"]["arguments"]["query"].GetValue (); // --- ?? REAL WEB SEARCH HAPPENS HERE --- // In production, call your Bing/DuckDuckGo/Tavily API here. var mockSearchResults = $"[Web Result] Breaking news about: {searchQuery}. The weather is 25°C."; // 4. Feed the search results back to Ollama for a final summary var finalPayload = new { model = "llama3.1", messages = new object[] { new { role = "user", content = query }, message, // The tool call message from Ollama new { role = "tool", content = mockSearchResults } }, stream = false }; var finalResponse = await client.PostAsJsonAsync(ollamaUrl, finalPayload); var finalResult = await finalResponse.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync (); return finalResult["message"]["content"].GetValue (); } return "Ollama answered directly without needing a web search."; }); app.Run(); How it Works (Step-by-Step for your slides) The Setup: We define a web_search tool so Ollama knows it has the ability to search. The First Ask: We send the user's question to Ollama. Instead of answering, Ollama replies with a tool_call (e.g., "I need to search for 'Latest AI news'" ). The Execution: Our C# code catches that request, executes the actual web search (via an API), and grabs the results. The Final Answer: We send the web results back to Ollama. Ollama reads the raw web data and generates a clean, human-readable summary for the user. "Internal Company Knowledge Bot" Imagine a company uses SharePoint for documents, but it's hard to search. You can build an ASP.NET API where the "Tool" isn't the web, but an Internal SQL Database or SharePoint API . When an employee asks, "What is the policy on work-from-home?" , Ollama triggers the tool, fetches the exact PDF text from the database, and summarizes it instantly! Not all models support tools! For this to work in Ollama, they must pull a tool-calling capable model like llama3.1 , mistral , or qwen2.5 . Standard llama3 (8B) will just ignore the tool definition.

Ollama Web Search API Integration

Ollama Web Search API Integration with asp.net

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