Cohere API Not Working?
Cohere API 401, deprecated domain error (.ai → .com), outdated model IDs, trial key rate limit, EU endpoint confusion, or Embed/Rerank failing? Check live status and fix it fast.
Cohere — live status
Updated every 5 minutes. Full history at prismix.dev/service/cohere.
What's wrong? Diagnose fast
API 401 / deprecated domain
Old domain api.cohere.ai is deprecated. Use api.cohere.com (not .ai). Header: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY. Python SDK: pip install cohere --upgrade, then cohere.ClientV2(api_key="YOUR_KEY"). Check your key at dashboard.cohere.com → API Keys.
Model not found (404)
Deprecated: command-light, command-xlarge, command-nightly. Use: command-r-plus (best quality), command-r (balanced), command-r-plus-08-2024 (frozen version). For embed: embed-english-v3.0 or embed-multilingual-v3.0. For rerank: rerank-english-v3.0.
Rate limit 429 on trial key
Trial keys: 100 RPM, 1,000 calls/month, 1GB embed throughput. If hitting 429 on trial: implement exponential backoff (retry 1-5s) or upgrade at dashboard.cohere.com. Trial key vs production key shown in dashboard under API Keys.
EU data residency required
Use https://api.eu.cohere.com for EU data residency. SDK: cohere.Client(api_key="YOUR_KEY", base_url="https://api.eu.cohere.com"). The EU endpoint has identical API surface — just change the domain. Do NOT use api.cohere.com when GDPR compliance requires EU routing.
Embed API returning wrong dimensions
embed-english-v3.0 returns 1024-dimensional vectors. embed-english-light-v3.0 returns 384 dimensions. embed-multilingual-v3.0 returns 1024. If your index was built with a different dimension, rebuild it. Also: you must pass input_type (search_document or search_query) — missing it returns 400.
Rerank API not improving results
Rerank works on top of initial retrieval — it is NOT a standalone search. Pass your query + top-50 to 100 candidate documents. If you pass fewer than 5 documents, reranking has little effect. Model: rerank-english-v3.0 (English only) or rerank-multilingual-v3.0 (100+ languages). Return top_n from the result (default = all documents, reranked).
Cohere API quick reference (v2 SDK)
Python SDK v2 — chat
import cohere
co = cohere.ClientV2(api_key="YOUR_KEY") # use ClientV2 for v2 API
response = co.chat(
model="command-r-plus",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
)
print(response.message.content[0].text) Embed API (with required input_type)
response = co.embed(
texts=["Hello world", "Cohere embeddings"],
model="embed-english-v3.0",
input_type="search_document", # REQUIRED — missing this = 400 error
embedding_types=["float"],
)
print(len(response.embeddings.float[0])) # 1024 Rerank API
response = co.rerank(
model="rerank-english-v3.0",
query="What is RAG?",
documents=["doc1 text...", "doc2 text...", ...], # pass 20-100 candidates
top_n=5, # return top 5 reranked
)
for r in response.results:
print(r.index, r.relevance_score) Current Cohere model IDs
| Model ID | Type | Context / Dim |
|---|---|---|
| command-r-plus | Chat | 128K tokens |
| command-r | Chat | 128K tokens |
| command-r-plus-08-2024 | Chat (frozen) | 128K tokens |
| embed-english-v3.0 | Embed | 1024 dim |
| embed-multilingual-v3.0 | Embed | 1024 dim, 100+ lang |
| embed-english-light-v3.0 | Embed (fast) | 384 dim |
| rerank-english-v3.0 | Rerank | English only |
| rerank-multilingual-v3.0 | Rerank | 100+ languages |
Step-by-step fix
- 1
Check live Cohere status
Visit prismix.dev/service/cohere. Also check status.cohere.com.
- 2
Fix 401 and deprecated domain
Update base URL from
api.cohere.aitoapi.cohere.com. Upgrade SDK:pip install cohere --upgrade. Switch tocohere.ClientV2(api_key="YOUR_KEY"). Header:Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY. - 3
Fix deprecated model IDs
Replace old model names: command →
command-r-plus; command-light →command-r; embed-english-v2.0 →embed-english-v3.0. Get current IDs from the table above. - 4
Fix rate limit 429 (trial key)
Trial keys have a 100 RPM and 1,000 calls/month cap. Implement exponential backoff: catch 429, wait
2^attemptseconds before retry. Or upgrade at dashboard.cohere.com to a production key with higher limits. - 5
Fix Embed 400 (missing input_type)
Cohere v3 embed models require
input_type: use"search_document"for data you are storing and"search_query"for queries. Using the wrong type degrades retrieval quality. Missing it entirely returns a 400 error.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is Cohere API not working?
Cohere API issues: (1) 401 or deprecated domain — change base URL from api.cohere.ai to api.cohere.com, upgrade SDK; (2) model 404 — use command-r-plus, command-r, embed-english-v3.0, rerank-english-v3.0 (old names like command-xlarge are removed); (3) rate limit 429 — trial keys capped at 100 RPM/1k monthly; (4) Embed 400 — add input_type parameter; (5) outage — check prismix.dev/service/cohere.
Is Cohere down right now?
Check prismix.dev/service/cohere for live Cohere API status. Also status.cohere.com.
Cohere deprecated endpoint error — how to fix?
The old domain api.cohere.ai is deprecated. Update your base URL to https://api.cohere.com/v2. Upgrade the SDK: pip install cohere --upgrade. In code, switch from cohere.Client() to cohere.ClientV2() which defaults to v2 endpoints and the new domain. If using REST directly, also update your URL.
What are the current Cohere model IDs?
Chat: command-r-plus (best quality, 128K), command-r (balanced, 128K), command-r-plus-08-2024 (frozen). Embed: embed-english-v3.0 (1024 dim), embed-multilingual-v3.0 (1024 dim), embed-english-light-v3.0 (384 dim). Rerank: rerank-english-v3.0, rerank-multilingual-v3.0. Old names (command-light, command-xlarge, embed-english-v2.0) return 404.
Cohere Embed API returning 400 — how to fix?
Cohere v3 embed models require input_type. Pass "search_document" for data going INTO your database, "search_query" for live queries. Also add embedding_types=["float"] to get float vectors. Missing input_type = 400. Wrong input_type = embeddings that work but return poor retrieval quality.
