Call Ollama from Node.js

Node includes fetch(), so the simplest client needs no dependency.

Create ask.js:

const response = await fetch('http://localhost:11434/api/chat', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    model: 'gemma3:1b',
    messages: [
      { role: 'user', content: 'Explain local inference in one sentence.' },
    ],
    stream: false,
  }),
})

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Ollama returned ${response.status}`)
}

const data = await response.json()
console.log(data.message.content)

Run it:

node ask.js

Check response.ok before parsing a success payload. A local service can be unavailable, return a malformed request error, or reject an unknown model.

Keep the URL and model name in configuration when the project grows. Do not scatter them across every feature.