feat: add client.exists() or client.has_model() method to check if a model is available locally

[Pawansingh3889]

Feature Request

Currently there is no clean way to check whether a model is already pulled locally without either:

1. Calling ollama.show(model) and catching the exception
2. Calling ollama.list() and iterating through all models

Proposed API

import ollama

if not ollama.exists("llama3.1:8b"):
    ollama.pull("llama3.1:8b")

Or on the client:

client = ollama.Client()
if not client.exists("llama3.1:8b"):
    client.pull("llama3.1:8b")

Use Case

When building applications that need to ensure a model is available before running inference (e.g., CI pipelines, first-run setup scripts, or tools like factory floor AI systems that need to work offline), a simple boolean check is much cleaner than exception-based flow control.

Current Workaround

try:
    ollama.show("llama3.1:8b")
except ollama.ResponseError:
    ollama.pull("llama3.1:8b")

This works but is not discoverable and uses exceptions for control flow, which is an anti-pattern in Python.

[monsieurlinux]

This would indeed be very useful.

I'm currently using list(), which I found to be faster than calling show():

def is_model_available(model_name: str) -> bool:
    # Fetch local models
    models = ollama.list()['models']

    # Extract just the names into a list
    names = [m['model'] for m in models]

    # Check for exact match or with 'latest' suffix
    return model_name in names or f'{model_name}:latest' in names