continuedev/continue · error · Error

Unexpected message received from Ollama with role = tool

Error message

Unexpected message received from Ollama with role = tool

What it means

Thrown by convertChatMessage in Ollama._streamChat when a streamed message arrives with role === "tool". The /api/chat response stream from the client's perspective should only contain assistant/user-shaped messages; a tool-role message means the conversation history sent to Ollama contains tool results formatted in a way Ollama echoes back instead of consuming.

Source

Thrown at core/llm/llms/Ollama.ts:581

            // When Streaming you can't have both thinking and content
            return [thinkingMessage];
          }
        }

        if (content) {
          const chatMessage: ChatMessage = {
            role: "assistant",
            content: content,
          };
          return [chatMessage];
        }
        return [];
      }

      const { role, content, thinking, tool_calls: toolCalls } = res.message;

      if (role === "tool") {
        throw new Error(
          "Unexpected message received from Ollama with role = tool",
        );
      }

      if (role === "assistant") {
        const thinkingMessage: ThinkingChatMessage | null = thinking
          ? { role: "thinking", content: thinking }
          : null;

        if (thinkingMessage && !content && !toolCalls?.length) {
          // When Streaming you can't have both thinking and content
          return [thinkingMessage];
        }
        // Either not thinking, or not streaming
        const chatMessage: ChatMessage = { role: "assistant", content };

        if (toolCalls?.length) {
          // Continue handles the response as a tool call delta but

View on GitHub (pinned to 5522c6f44c)

Solutions

1. Update Ollama to the latest version (tool-call message schema changed across releases)
2. Disable tools/agent mode for that model if the Ollama build doesn't support them
3. Clear the chat session so stale tool messages aren't replayed in history

const messages = history.filter(m => m.role !== 'tool' || supportsOllamaTools);
if (messages.some(m => m.role === 'tool') && !supportsOllamaTools) stripToolMessages();

function isOllamaToolRoleError(e: unknown): boolean { return e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('role = tool'); }

try { for await (const m of llm.streamChat(messages, signal)) handle(m); }
catch (e) { if (isOllamaToolRoleError(e)) restartSessionWithoutTools(); else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Using Ollama tool-calling in Continue and the message history contains a tool result message that Ollama's API passes through with role 'tool' instead of mapping it, or an Ollama version whose tool-message schema differs from what the client sends.

Common situations: Version mismatch between the Ollama server and the client's tool-call message format; older Ollama builds that don't support the tools API properly.

Related errors

• res.error
• Failed to fetch Ollama library: ${response.status}
• Error fetching tags: ${e.message}
• HTTP ${e.response.status} ${e.response.statusText} from ${e.
• Unable to connect to local Ollama instance. Ollama may not b

AI-assisted analysis of continuedev/continue@5522c6f44c (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/16a4352c8c01108c. Report an issue: GitHub.