Cohere

Cohere provides language models accessible through its OpenAI-compatible Compatibility API.

Cohere’s Compatibility API rejects the stream_options request field. The Python provider lets you unset it (shown below); the TypeScript provider always sends it, so it does not work with Cohere.

Installation

The OpenAI provider is an optional dependency. To install, run:

pip install 'strands-agents[openai]'

Usage

Create an API key in the Cohere Dashboard, export it as COHERE_API_KEY, and point the provider at the Compatibility API:

import os

from strands import Agent
from strands.models.openai import OpenAIModel

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={
        "api_key": os.environ["COHERE_API_KEY"],
        "base_url": "https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1",
    },
    model_id="command-a-03-2025",
    # The Compatibility API rejects stream_options; unset the SDK default
    params={"stream_options": None},
)

agent = Agent(model=model)
response = agent("Explain tool calling in one sentence.")
print(response)

Configuration

Two client settings connect the provider to Cohere:

API key: from the Cohere Dashboard
Base URL: https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1

Model IDs come from the Cohere model catalog, for example command-a-03-2025 or command-r-plus. Keep params={"stream_options": None} in every configuration. For other provider options, see the OpenAI provider guide.

Cohere

Installation

Usage

Configuration

References