From be133c4f3a2bf4b805b580e3c05ef003231cd5dc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Phillip Tarrant <ptarrant@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:15:45 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] feat(api): Ollama /api/chat client with one retry + typed
 ModelError

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 api/app/ollama_client.py        | 46 ++++++++++++++++++
 api/tests/test_ollama_client.py | 83 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 129 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 api/app/ollama_client.py
 create mode 100644 api/tests/test_ollama_client.py

diff --git a/api/app/ollama_client.py b/api/app/ollama_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6de1d48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/app/ollama_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+"""Call Ollama's /api/chat (non-streaming) with a single retry. Callers see
+success or ModelError (charter §12/§13 — one retry, then fail; the client
+degrades on any non-200). Built so a streaming mode is an additive path later.
+"""
+
+import httpx
+
+from . import config
+
+
+class ModelError(Exception):
+    """The model call failed after one retry (transport / timeout / non-2xx / empty)."""
+
+
+def chat(
+    model: str,
+    messages: list[dict],
+    options: dict,
+    *,
+    think: bool | None = None,
+    client: httpx.Client | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    payload: dict = {"model": model, "messages": messages, "stream": False, "options": options}
+    if think is not None:
+        payload["think"] = think
+
+    owns = client is None
+    http = client or httpx.Client(
+        base_url=config.ollama_base_url(), timeout=config.ollama_timeout_seconds()
+    )
+    try:
+        last = "no attempt made"
+        for _ in range(2):  # one try + one retry (§12: never more than once)
+            try:
+                resp = http.post("/api/chat", json=payload)
+                resp.raise_for_status()
+                content = resp.json().get("message", {}).get("content", "")
+                if content.strip():
+                    return content
+                last = "empty response from model"
+            except httpx.HTTPError as exc:  # TimeoutException, TransportError, HTTPStatusError
+                last = f"{type(exc).__name__}: {exc}"
+        raise ModelError(last)
+    finally:
+        if owns:
+            http.close()
diff --git a/api/tests/test_ollama_client.py b/api/tests/test_ollama_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bd14e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/tests/test_ollama_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+import json
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+
+from app.ollama_client import ModelError, chat
+
+
+def _client(handler):
+    return httpx.Client(transport=httpx.MockTransport(handler), base_url="http://ollama")
+
+
+def test_success_returns_content_and_sends_payload():
+    seen = {}
+
+    def handler(request):
+        seen["body"] = json.loads(request.content)
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={"message": {"content": "You stand on the wharf."}})
+
+    out = chat("qwen3.5:latest", [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}], {"seed": 7},
+               think=False, client=_client(handler))
+    assert out == "You stand on the wharf."
+    assert seen["body"]["model"] == "qwen3.5:latest"
+    assert seen["body"]["stream"] is False
+    assert seen["body"]["options"]["seed"] == 7
+    assert seen["body"]["think"] is False
+
+
+def test_think_omitted_when_none():
+    seen = {}
+
+    def handler(request):
+        seen["body"] = json.loads(request.content)
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={"message": {"content": "ok"}})
+
+    chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))
+    assert "think" not in seen["body"]
+
+
+def test_retries_once_then_succeeds():
+    calls = {"n": 0}
+
+    def handler(request):
+        calls["n"] += 1
+        if calls["n"] == 1:
+            raise httpx.ConnectError("boom")
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={"message": {"content": "recovered"}})
+
+    out = chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))
+    assert out == "recovered"
+    assert calls["n"] == 2
+
+
+def test_two_transport_failures_raise_modelerror():
+    def handler(request):
+        raise httpx.ConnectError("down")
+
+    with pytest.raises(ModelError):
+        chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))
+
+
+def test_timeout_exhausted_raises_modelerror():
+    def handler(request):
+        raise httpx.TimeoutException("slow")
+
+    with pytest.raises(ModelError):
+        chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))
+
+
+def test_non_2xx_retried_then_modelerror():
+    def handler(request):
+        return httpx.Response(500, json={"error": "nope"})
+
+    with pytest.raises(ModelError):
+        chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))
+
+
+def test_empty_content_retried_then_modelerror():
+    def handler(request):
+        return httpx.Response(200, json={"message": {"content": "   "}})
+
+    with pytest.raises(ModelError):
+        chat("m", [{"role": "user", "content": "x"}], {}, client=_client(handler))