diff --git a/harmony/harmonyparser.go b/harmony/harmonyparser.go
index a51819ddab..93e8dd6ae1 100644
--- a/harmony/harmonyparser.go
+++ b/harmony/harmonyparser.go
@@ -1,17 +1,32 @@
 package harmony
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"log/slog"
+	"maps"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"unicode"
 
-	"github.com/ollama/ollama/api"
 	"github.com/ollama/ollama/logutil"
+	"github.com/ollama/ollama/template"
 )
 
 type harmonyParserState int
 
+func ShouldUseHarmony(modelFamily string, template *template.Template) bool {
+	if slices.Contains([]string{"gptoss", "gpt-oss"}, modelFamily) {
+		// heuristic to check whether the template expects to be parsed via harmony:
+		// search for harmony tags that are nearly always used
+		if template.Contains("<|start|>") && template.Contains("<|end|>") {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 const (
 	harmonyParserState_LookingForMessageStart harmonyParserState = iota
 	harmonyParserState_ParsingHeader
@@ -75,17 +90,18 @@ func (s *HarmonyParser) AddImplicitStart() {
 	s.acc.WriteString("<|start|>assistant")
 }
 
-func (s *HarmonyParser) AddImplicitStartOrPrefill(lastMessage *api.Message) {
-	if lastMessage != nil && lastMessage.Role == "assistant" {
-		// handle prefilling conditions
-		if lastMessage.Content != "" {
+// AddImplicitStartOrPrefill adds content or thinking to the accumulator else adds start tag
+func (s *HarmonyParser) AddImplicitStartOrPrefill(prefillContentOrThinking *bool) {
+	if prefillContentOrThinking != nil {
+		if *prefillContentOrThinking {
 			s.acc.WriteString("<|start|>assistant<|channel|>final<|message|>")
 			return
-		} else if lastMessage.Thinking != "" {
+		} else {
 			s.acc.WriteString("<|start|>assistant<|channel|>analysis<|message|>")
 			return
 		}
 	}
+
 	s.AddImplicitStart()
 }
 
@@ -377,6 +393,38 @@ type FunctionNameMap struct {
 	harmonyToUser map[string]string
 }
 
+func (m FunctionNameMap) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	// necessary to avoid exposing map internals
+	type alias struct {
+		UserToHarmony map[string]string `json:"userToHarmony"`
+		HarmonyToUser map[string]string `json:"harmonyToUser"`
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(alias{
+		UserToHarmony: m.userToHarmony,
+		HarmonyToUser: m.harmonyToUser,
+	})
+}
+
+func (m *FunctionNameMap) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	type alias struct {
+		UserToHarmony map[string]string `json:"userToHarmony"`
+		HarmonyToUser map[string]string `json:"harmonyToUser"`
+	}
+	var a alias
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &a); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if m.userToHarmony == nil {
+		m.userToHarmony = make(map[string]string)
+	}
+	if m.harmonyToUser == nil {
+		m.harmonyToUser = make(map[string]string)
+	}
+	maps.Copy(m.userToHarmony, a.UserToHarmony)
+	maps.Copy(m.harmonyToUser, a.HarmonyToUser)
+	return nil
+}
+
 func NewFunctionNameMap() *FunctionNameMap {
 	return &FunctionNameMap{
 		userToHarmony: make(map[string]string),