Cohere

Cohere provides cutting-edge language models. These are accessible through OpenAI’s SDK via the Compatibility API. This allows easy and portable integration with the Strands Agents SDK using the familiar OpenAI interface.

Installation

The Strands Agents SDK provides access to Cohere models through the OpenAI compatibility layer, configured as an optional dependency. To install, run:

pip install 'strands-agents[openai]' strands-agents-tools

Usage

After installing the openai package, you can import and initialize the Strands Agents’ OpenAI-compatible provider for Cohere models as follows:

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

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={
        "api_key": "<COHERE_API_KEY>",
        "base_url": "https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1",  # Cohere compatibility endpoint
    },
    model_id="command-a-03-2025",  # or see https://docs.cohere.com/docs/models
    params={
        "stream_options": None
    }
)

agent = Agent(model=model, tools=[calculator])
agent("What is 2+2?")

Configuration

Client Configuration

The client_args configure the underlying OpenAI-compatible client. When using Cohere, you must set:

api_key: Your Cohere API key. Get one from the Cohere Dashboard.
base_url:
- https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1

Refer to OpenAI Python SDK GitHub for full client options.

Model Configuration

The model_config specifies which Cohere model to use and any additional parameters.

Parameter	Description	Example	Options
`model_id`	Model name	`command-r-plus`	See Cohere docs
`params`	Model-specific parameters	`{"max_tokens": 1000, "temperature": 0.7}`	API reference

Troubleshooting

`ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openai'`

You must install the openai dependency to use this provider:

pip install 'strands-agents[openai]'

Unexpected model behavior?

Ensure you’re using a model ID compatible with Cohere’s Compatibility API (e.g., command-r-plus, command-a-03-2025, embed-v4.0), and your base_url is set to https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1.