diff --git a/docs/web/integrations/embedding/ollama.mdx b/docs/web/integrations/embedding/ollama.mdx
index 120cde8f2..bd161a692 100644
--- a/docs/web/integrations/embedding/ollama.mdx
+++ b/docs/web/integrations/embedding/ollama.mdx
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ Generate embeddings via the [ollama](https://github.com/ollama/ollama-python) py
 - [Ollama docs on embeddings](https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/main/docs/api.md#generate-embeddings)
 - [Ollama blog on embeddings](https://ollama.com/blog/embedding-models)
 
+For direct calls, `compute_source_embeddings` accepts a list of strings or a
+one-dimensional NumPy string array. Both inputs are sent to Ollama in one batch.
+
 | Parameter              | Type                       | Default Value            | Description                                                                                                                                    |
 |------------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 | `name`                 | `str`                      | `nomic-embed-text`       | The name of the model.                                                                                                                         |
diff --git a/python/python/lancedb/embeddings/ollama.py b/python/python/lancedb/embeddings/ollama.py
index aad8742de..3151c7c72 100644
--- a/python/python/lancedb/embeddings/ollama.py
+++ b/python/python/lancedb/embeddings/ollama.py
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ class OllamaEmbeddings(TextEmbeddingFunction):
             The texts to embed
         """
         # TODO retry, rate limit, token limit
+        if isinstance(texts, np.ndarray):
+            texts = texts.tolist()
         embeddings = self._compute_embedding(texts)
         return list(embeddings)
 
diff --git a/python/python/tests/test_ollama_embeddings.py b/python/python/tests/test_ollama_embeddings.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d8568ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/python/tests/test_ollama_embeddings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The LanceDB Authors
+
+import json
+
+import httpx
+import numpy as np
+import pyarrow as pa
+import pytest
+from pydantic import ValidationError
+
+from lancedb.embeddings import get_registry
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def ollama_embeddings():
+    pytest.importorskip("ollama")
+    requests = []
+
+    def respond(request):
+        body = json.loads(request.content)
+        requests.append(body)
+        if body["model"] == "missing-model":
+            return httpx.Response(404, json={"error": "model not found"})
+        return httpx.Response(
+            200,
+            json={
+                "embeddings": [
+                    [float(index), float(len(text))]
+                    for index, text in enumerate(body["input"])
+                ]
+            },
+        )
+
+    function = (
+        get_registry()
+        .get("ollama")
+        .create(
+            name="nomic-embed-text",
+            options={"num_ctx": 4096},
+            keep_alive="10m",
+            ollama_client_kwargs={
+                "transport": httpx.MockTransport(respond),
+                "trust_env": False,
+            },
+        )
+    )
+    yield function, requests
+    function._ollama_client._client.close()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "texts",
+    [
+        pytest.param(["hello", "世界"], id="list"),
+        pytest.param(np.array(["hello", "世界"]), id="numpy-unicode"),
+        pytest.param(np.array(["hello", "世界"], dtype=object), id="numpy-object"),
+        pytest.param(
+            np.array([b"hello", "世界".encode("utf-8")]), id="numpy-utf8-bytes"
+        ),
+        pytest.param([b"hello", "世界".encode("utf-8")], id="list-utf8-bytes"),
+        pytest.param(np.array(["hello", "unused", "世界"])[::2], id="numpy-slice"),
+        pytest.param(pa.array(["hello", "世界"]), id="arrow"),
+        pytest.param(pa.chunked_array([["hello"], ["世界"]]), id="chunked-arrow"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_ollama_source_embeddings_inputs(ollama_embeddings, texts):
+    function, requests = ollama_embeddings
+
+    assert function.compute_source_embeddings(texts) == [[0.0, 5.0], [1.0, 2.0]]
+    assert requests == [
+        {
+            "model": "nomic-embed-text",
+            "input": ["hello", "世界"],
+            "options": {"num_ctx": 4096},
+            "keep_alive": "10m",
+        }
+    ]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "texts",
+    [
+        pytest.param(np.array([["hello"], ["world"]]), id="numpy-two-dimensional"),
+        pytest.param([["hello"], ["world"]], id="list-two-dimensional"),
+        pytest.param(np.array([b"\xff"]), id="numpy-invalid-utf8"),
+        pytest.param([b"\xff"], id="list-invalid-utf8"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_ollama_source_embeddings_rejects_invalid_input_locally(
+    ollama_embeddings, texts
+):
+    function, requests = ollama_embeddings
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValidationError, match="valid string"):
+        function.compute_source_embeddings(texts)
+
+    assert requests == []
+
+
+def test_ollama_generate_embeddings_empty_array(ollama_embeddings):
+    function, requests = ollama_embeddings
+
+    assert function.generate_embeddings(np.array([], dtype=str)) == []
+    assert len(requests) == 1
+    assert requests[0]["input"] == []
+
+
+def test_ollama_query_embeddings(ollama_embeddings):
+    function, requests = ollama_embeddings
+
+    assert function.compute_query_embeddings("hello") == [[0.0, 5.0]]
+    assert len(requests) == 1
+    assert requests[0]["input"] == ["hello"]
+
+
+def test_ollama_source_embeddings_preserves_api_error(ollama_embeddings):
+    ollama = pytest.importorskip("ollama")
+    function, requests = ollama_embeddings
+    function.name = "missing-model"
+
+    with pytest.raises(ollama.ResponseError, match="model not found") as error:
+        function.compute_source_embeddings(np.array(["hello"]))
+
+    assert error.value.status_code == 404
+    assert len(requests) == 1