Model Search and Filter Improvements

[kevATin]

I think that the model search and filter feature is currently relatively hidden and could be improved.
Instead of putting the search button in the top left where many people might not see it when they are focused on the models on screen, I believe the search bar should simply always be visible.
Maybe the filter checkboxes could also be displayed right below the search bar, but that's less of an issue to me.
Related issue: #1101

The following filter tags seem broken and show zero results: small, medium, big, huge, and reasoning.
Maybe ollama has renamed those tags? For example instead of reasoning i can see a thinking tag on their website.

The embedding tag is absent in the filter. Is that intended?

I think the cloud tag should get a different color (maybe cyan from the ollama website) to separate it clearly from the feature tags and categorize it more like one of the size tags.

Currently the filter seems to be "OR" (if any tag matches the model shows up), personally i'd find it much more useful if i could set it to "AND" (must match all).
Or maybe make the feature tags use AND and the size tags OR?
Related issue: #656

Is there a reason why only a select few of the models from the ollama website are available via search, instead of all of them?

[Jeffser]

hi, thanks for the suggestion, to answer your questions:

1. The filter only applies the sizes tags in the Available Models section, I know it might be a bit confusing but the Added Models don't have access to that tag.
2. Embedding models and models that only provide a Huge size tag are hidden by default, to make them appear you'll need to change environment variables.
3. About Cloud getting it's own color, I might actually change that but I want to follow the default Gnome HIG colors
4. I'll see what I can do about the "OR" "AND" thing
5. The model list is not actually provided by Ollama, I actually have a scrapper that creates this file, if it isn't updated it's because I haven't done it yet. Still, if you want to force pull something that isn't in the list already you can do so by selecting the "Pull Model by Name" option in the context menu of the Model Manager (top right button)

[Jeffser]

also, if you are wondering why the model list is a .py file instead of a .json, it's because Python files are translatable, JSON files are not

[kevATin]

1. The filter only applies the sizes tags in the `Available Models` section, I know it might be a bit confusing but the `Added Models` don't have access to that tag.

Oh I didn't even use the search/filter function at all in the Added Models section, I only used it for Available Models.
So no, all the size tags show no results for both tabs.

2. Embedding models and models that only provide a `Huge` size tag are hidden by default, to make them appear you'll need to change [environment variables](https://jeffser.com/alpaca/environment-variables.html).

That's very useful. But I think if the app provides a search+filter then it shouldn't hide models behind secret settings. Maybe as mentioned before the size tags could work using AND and by default the size tags small, medium, and big are pre-selected and huge is not. (And only models that have at least one size for those categories show up.) Then that setting is clearly visible to everyone and users have control over it. (Edit: Also it looks like even just 16GB models count as "huge")
I guess embedding models being useless in Alpaca is a good reason to hide them. Personally I don't use them, was just wondering why the tag wasn't there.
Also the 24H time format should definitely be visible in the main settings or adjust based on system settings. I was always wondering why my timestamps use the USA format in Alpaca.

3. About Cloud getting it's own color, I might actually change that but I want to follow the default [Gnome HIG colors](https://developer.gnome.org/hig/reference/palette.html)

No cyan, too bad, but yeah I think Cloud should stand out from the other tags.

4. I'll see what I can do about the "OR" "AND" thing

Thanks, OR would be very helpful!

5. The model list is not actually provided by Ollama, I actually have a scrapper that creates [this file](https://github.com/Jeffser/Alpaca/blob/main/src/ollama_models.py), if it isn't updated it's because I haven't done it yet. Still, if you want to force pull something that isn't in the list already you can do so by selecting the "Pull Model by Name" option in the context menu of the `Model Manager` (top right button)

Yes "Pull Model by Name" works if you already know exactly what kind of model you want, but being able to discover new models via search would be nice too. I don't think https://ollama.com/search actually indexes all models. For example these uncensored ones I need to navigate to manually: https://ollama.com/goekdenizguelmez So your way of indexing might skip them as well.
So currently an update to the model list requires an update to Alpaca? Do you think it would be feasible to make the Alpaca app look up the model index directly on the website for each search?

[Jeffser]

So currently an update to the model list requires an update to Alpaca?

Yep

Do you think it would be feasible to make the Alpaca app look up the model index directly on the website for each search?

Not really, listing models manually has the advantage of giving me time to make implementations when needed (for example Cloud models), it also allows Alpaca to have descriptions for models in different languages.

Even if I wanted to automate it I can't because Ollama doesn't provide an endpoint on their website to extract the model list