diff --git a/ollama/_client.py b/ollama/_client.py
index 3654e3c0..e420e909 100644
--- a/ollama/_client.py
+++ b/ollama/_client.py
@@ -750,6 +750,18 @@ def web_fetch(self, url: str) -> WebFetchResponse:
       ).model_dump(exclude_none=True),
     )
 
+  def ping(self) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check whether the Ollama server is running and reachable.
+
+    Returns True if the server responds to the /api/version health endpoint.
+    """
+    try:
+      data = self._request_raw('GET', '/api/version').json()
+      return bool(data) and 'version' in data
+    except ConnectionError:
+      return False
+
 
 class AsyncClient(BaseClient):
   def __init__(self, host: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs) -> None:
@@ -862,6 +874,18 @@ async def web_fetch(self, url: str) -> WebFetchResponse:
       ).model_dump(exclude_none=True),
     )
 
+  async def ping(self) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check whether the Ollama server is running and reachable.
+
+    Returns True if the server responds to the /api/version health endpoint.
+    """
+    try:
+      data = (await self._request_raw('GET', '/api/version')).json()
+      return bool(data) and 'version' in data
+    except ConnectionError:
+      return False
+
   @overload
   async def generate(
     self,
diff --git a/tests/test_type_serialization.py b/tests/test_type_serialization.py
index e1af3512..f107fd36 100644
--- a/tests/test_type_serialization.py
+++ b/tests/test_type_serialization.py
@@ -122,3 +122,29 @@ def test_think_boolean_serialization():
   assert ChatRequest(model='test-model', think=True).model_dump(exclude_none=True)['think'] is True
   assert ChatRequest(model='test-model', think=False).model_dump(exclude_none=True)['think'] is False
   assert 'think' not in ChatRequest(model='test-model', think=None).model_dump(exclude_none=True)
+
+
+def test_client_ping_reports_reachable_server():
+  from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
+  from ollama import Client, AsyncClient
+  mock_resp = Mock()
+  mock_resp.json.return_value = {'version': '0.1.0'}
+  with patch.object(Client, '_request_raw', return_value=mock_resp):
+    assert Client().ping() is True
+  async def run():
+    with patch.object(AsyncClient, '_request_raw', return_value=mock_resp):
+      return await AsyncClient().ping()
+  import asyncio
+  assert asyncio.run(run()) is True
+
+
+def test_client_ping_reports_unreachable_server():
+  from unittest.mock import patch
+  from ollama import Client, AsyncClient
+  with patch.object(Client, '_request_raw', side_effect=ConnectionError('down')):
+    assert Client().ping() is False
+  async def run():
+    with patch.object(AsyncClient, '_request_raw', side_effect=ConnectionError('down')):
+      return await AsyncClient().ping()
+  import asyncio
+  assert asyncio.run(run()) is False