diff --git a/common/arg.cpp b/common/arg.cpp
index b916dcfcc..dd0cc51d9 100644
--- a/common/arg.cpp
+++ b/common/arg.cpp
@@ -1993,15 +1993,23 @@ common_params_context common_params_parser_init(common_params & params, llama_ex
                 std::back_inserter(params.chat_template));
         }
     ).set_examples({LLAMA_EXAMPLE_MAIN, LLAMA_EXAMPLE_SERVER}).set_env("LLAMA_ARG_CHAT_TEMPLATE_FILE"));
+
     add_opt(common_arg(
         {"--tools"}, "JINJA_TOOLS",
-        string_format(
-            "set to a JSON array of tool definitions used for assistant function-calling "
-            "(requires --jinja)"),
+        "set to JSON array of tool definitions used for assistant function-calling (requires --jinja)",
         [](common_params &params, const std::string & value) {
-            params.jinja_tools = value;
-        }
-    ).set_examples({LLAMA_EXAMPLE_MAIN}).set_env("LLAMA_ARG_JINJA_TOOLS"));
+            params.jinja_tools.tools(value);
+
+        }).set_examples({LLAMA_EXAMPLE_MAIN}));
+
+    add_opt(common_arg(
+        {"--tool-choice"}, "JINJA_TOOL_CHOICE",
+        "set to \"auto\", \"required\", \"none\" or a JSON object specifying a tool function (default: \"auto\")",
+        [](common_params &params, const std::string & value) {
+            params.jinja_tools.choice(value);
+
+        }).set_examples({LLAMA_EXAMPLE_MAIN}));
+
     add_opt(common_arg(
         {"-sps", "--slot-prompt-similarity"}, "SIMILARITY",
         string_format("how much the prompt of a request must match the prompt of a slot in order to use that slot (default: %.2f, 0.0 = disabled)\n", params.slot_prompt_similarity),
diff --git a/common/common.cpp b/common/common.cpp
index e546f78c2..d9657bc85 100644
--- a/common/common.cpp
+++ b/common/common.cpp
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@
 
 #include "common.h"
 #include "log.h"
-// Change JSON_ASSERT from assert() to GGML_ASSERT:
-#define JSON_ASSERT GGML_ASSERT
-#include "json.hpp"
 #include "json-schema-to-grammar.h"
 #include "llama.h"
 #include "chat.hpp"
@@ -1772,6 +1769,42 @@ std::string common_detokenize(const struct llama_vocab * vocab, const std::vecto
 // Chat template utils
 //
 
+common_params_tools::common_params_tools(std::string tools, std::string choice) {
+    this->tools(tools);
+    this->choice(choice);
+}
+
+void common_params_tools::tools(std::string tools) {
+    try {
+        tools_ = std::make_shared<json>(json::parse(tools));
+        if (! tools_->is_array()) {
+            throw std::invalid_argument("tools must be a valid JSON array");
+        }
+
+    } catch (const json::exception & err) {
+        throw std::invalid_argument(err.what());
+    }
+}
+
+void common_params_tools::choice(std::string choice) {
+    try {
+        if (choice == "auto" || choice == "required" || choice == "none") {
+            tool_choice_ = std::move(choice);
+
+        } else {
+            auto choice_ptr = std::make_shared<json>(json::parse(choice));
+            tool_choice_ = choice_ptr;
+            if (! choice_ptr->is_object()) {
+                throw std::invalid_argument(
+                    "tool choice must be a valid JSON object, \"auto\", \"required\", or \"none\"");
+            }
+        }
+
+    } catch (const json::exception & err) {
+        throw std::invalid_argument(err.what());
+    }
+}
+
 bool common_chat_verify_template(const std::string & tmpl, bool use_jinja) {
     if (use_jinja) {
         try {
@@ -1798,7 +1831,7 @@ std::string common_chat_apply_template(
         const std::vector<common_chat_msg> & msgs,
         bool add_ass,
         bool use_jinja,
-        std::string tools_json_arr)
+        const common_params_tools & tools)
 {
     if (use_jinja) {
         common_chat_inputs inputs;
@@ -1807,17 +1840,19 @@ std::string common_chat_apply_template(
         for (const auto & msg : msgs) {
             messages.push_back({{"role", msg.role}, {"content", msg.content}});
         }
+        if (tools.tools() != nullptr) {
+            inputs.tools = *tools.tools();
+        }
+        auto choice = tools.choice();
+        if (std::holds_alternative<std::string>(choice)) {
+            inputs.tool_choice = std::get<std::string>(choice);
 
-        if (! tools_json_arr.empty()) {
-            try {
-                inputs.tools = tools_json_arr;
-
-            } catch (const json::exception & err) {
-                LOG_WRN("Failed to parse tools JSON array \"%s\": \"%s\". Ignoring tools...\n",
-                        tools_json_arr.c_str(), err.what());
+        } else {
+            auto choice_ptr = std::get<common_params_tools::json_ptr>(choice);
+            if (choice_ptr != nullptr) {
+                inputs.tool_choice = *choice_ptr;
             }
         }
-
         inputs.messages = messages;
         inputs.add_generation_prompt = add_ass;
         return common_chat_params_init(tmpl, inputs).prompt;
@@ -1858,11 +1893,11 @@ std::string common_chat_format_single(
         const common_chat_msg & new_msg,
         bool add_ass,
         bool use_jinja,
-        std::string tools_json_arr)
+        const common_params_tools & tools)
 {
     std::ostringstream ss;
     auto fmt_past_msg = past_msg.empty() ? ""
-        : common_chat_apply_template(tmpl, past_msg, false, use_jinja, tools_json_arr);
+        : common_chat_apply_template(tmpl, past_msg, false, use_jinja, tools);
 
     std::vector<common_chat_msg> chat_new(past_msg);
     // if the past_msg ends with a newline, we must preserve it in the formatted version
@@ -1871,7 +1906,7 @@ std::string common_chat_format_single(
     };
     // format chat with new_msg
     chat_new.push_back(new_msg);
-    auto fmt_new_msg = common_chat_apply_template(tmpl, chat_new, add_ass, use_jinja, tools_json_arr);
+    auto fmt_new_msg = common_chat_apply_template(tmpl, chat_new, add_ass, use_jinja, tools);
     // get the diff part
     ss << fmt_new_msg.substr(fmt_past_msg.size(), fmt_new_msg.size() - fmt_past_msg.size());
     return ss.str();
diff --git a/common/common.h b/common/common.h
index 5058d654c..a1925d774 100644
--- a/common/common.h
+++ b/common/common.h
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 #include <sstream>
+// Change JSON_ASSERT from assert() to GGML_ASSERT:
+#define JSON_ASSERT GGML_ASSERT
+#include "json.hpp"
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
 #define DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR '\\'
@@ -202,6 +205,31 @@ struct common_params_vocoder {
     bool use_guide_tokens = false; // enable guide tokens to improve TTS accuracy            // NOLINT
 };
 
+class common_params_tools {
+public:
+    using json = nlohmann::ordered_json;
+    using json_ptr = std::shared_ptr<json>;
+    using tool_choice_t = std::variant<std::string, json_ptr>;
+
+    common_params_tools(std::string tools  = "",
+                        std::string choice = "auto");
+
+    common_params_tools(const common_params_tools & other) = default;
+    common_params_tools(common_params_tools && other) noexcept = default;
+    common_params_tools & operator=(const common_params_tools & other) = default;
+    common_params_tools & operator=(common_params_tools && other) noexcept = default;
+
+    void tools(std::string tools);
+    const json * tools() const { return tools_.get(); }
+
+    void choice(std::string choice);
+    const tool_choice_t & choice() const { return tool_choice_; }
+
+private:
+    json_ptr tools_;
+    tool_choice_t tool_choice_;
+};
+
 struct common_params {
     int32_t n_predict             =    -1; // new tokens to predict
     int32_t n_ctx                 =  4096; // context size
@@ -346,7 +374,8 @@ struct common_params {
     std::string chat_template = "";                                                                         // NOLINT
     bool use_jinja = false;                                                                                 // NOLINT
     bool enable_chat_template = true;
-    std::string jinja_tools   = "";
+    common_params_tools jinja_tools;
+
     std::vector<std::string> api_keys;
 
     std::string ssl_file_key  = "";                                                                         // NOLINT
@@ -649,7 +678,7 @@ std::string common_chat_apply_template(
         const std::vector<common_chat_msg> & chat,
         bool add_ass,
         bool use_jinja,
-        std::string tools_json_arr = std::string());
+        const common_params_tools & tools = common_params_tools());
 
 // Format single message, while taking into account the position of that message in chat history
 std::string common_chat_format_single(
@@ -658,7 +687,7 @@ std::string common_chat_format_single(
         const common_chat_msg & new_msg,
         bool add_ass,
         bool use_jinja,
-        std::string tools_json_arr = std::string());
+        const common_params_tools & tools = common_params_tools());
 
 // Returns an example of formatted chat
 std::string common_chat_format_example(
diff --git a/examples/main/main.cpp b/examples/main/main.cpp
index dd0f65bfe..d19a24331 100644
--- a/examples/main/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/main/main.cpp
@@ -263,14 +263,14 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     std::vector<llama_token> embd_inp;
 
-    auto chat_add_and_format = [&chat_msgs, &chat_templates](const std::string & role,
-                                                             const std::string & content,
-                                                             const std::string & tools = std::string()) {
+    auto chat_add_and_format = [&chat_msgs, &chat_templates](
+        const std::string & role, const std::string & content,
+        const common_params_tools & tools = common_params_tools())
+    {
         common_chat_msg new_msg{role, content, {}};
-        auto formatted = common_chat_format_single(*chat_templates.template_default,
-                                                   chat_msgs, new_msg,
-                                                   role == "user",
-                                                   g_params->use_jinja, tools);
+        auto formatted = common_chat_format_single(
+            *chat_templates.template_default, chat_msgs, new_msg, role == "user",
+            g_params->use_jinja, tools);
 
         chat_msgs.push_back({role, content, {}});
         LOG_DBG("formatted: '%s'\n", formatted.c_str());