Cohere MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides seamless integration with Cohere's AI platform. This server exposes Cohere's powerful language models, embeddings, and reranking capabilities through the MCP protocol, enabling AI assistants like Claude to leverage Cohere's tools.

Features

Chat & Completion - Conversational AI with Command models (including command-a-03-2025)
Embeddings - Generate semantic embeddings for search, RAG, and clustering
Reranking - Improve search relevance for RAG systems
Multilingual Chat - 23+ language support with Aya models
Text Summarization - Condense long documents
Classification - Few-shot text classification
Streaming Support - Real-time response streaming for chat

Available Models

Command Models (Chat/Completion)

command-a-03-2025 - Latest Command model for complex reasoning
command-r-plus - Excellent for RAG and tool use
command-r - Balanced performance and cost
command-light - Fast, lightweight model

Embedding Models

embed-english-v3.0 - Best English embedding model (1024 dimensions)
embed-multilingual-v3.0 - 100+ language support
embed-english-light-v3.0 - Lightweight English embeddings
embed-multilingual-light-v3.0 - Lightweight multilingual

Rerank Models

rerank-english-v3.0 - Best English reranking
rerank-multilingual-v3.0 - Multilingual reranking support

Aya Models (Multilingual)

aya-expanse-32b - Powerful multilingual model (23+ languages)
aya-expanse-8b - Efficient multilingual model

Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.10 or higher
A Cohere API key (get one here)

Install from Source

Clone or download this repository:

cd /home/<user>/Projects/cohere-mcp-server

Install the package:

pip install -e .

Set up your API key:

# Create a .env file in the project root
echo "COHERE_API_KEY=your-api-key-here" > .env

Or set it as an environment variable: ``bash export COHERE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here" ``

Usage

Running the Server

Run the MCP server directly: ``bash cohere-mcp ``

Or using Python: ``bash python -m cohere_mcp.server ``

The server communicates via stdio and follows the MCP protocol specification.

Configuring with Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cohere": {
      "command": "cohere-mcp",
      "env": {
        "COHERE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or if using Python directly: ``json { "mcpServers": { "cohere": { "command": "python", "args": ["-m", "cohere_mcp.server"], "env": { "COHERE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here" } } } } ``

Using with Other MCP Clients

Any MCP-compatible client can connect to this server. The server uses stdio transport and follows the MCP specification.

Available Tools

cohere_chat

Chat with Cohere's Command models for conversational AI and reasoning tasks.

Parameters:

message (string, required) - The user message
model (string) - Model to use (default: "command-a-03-2025")
temperature (number) - Sampling temperature 0-1 (default: 0.7)
max_tokens (number) - Maximum tokens to generate (default: 4096)
system_prompt (string) - Optional system instructions

Example: ``json { "message": "Explain quantum computing in simple terms", "model": "command-a-03-2025", "temperature": 0.7 } ``

cohere_chat_stream

Streaming version of chat for real-time responses.

Parameters: Same as cohere_chat

cohere_embed

Generate embeddings for semantic search, RAG, and clustering.

Parameters:

texts (array of strings, required) - Texts to embed (max 96 per request)
model (string) - Embedding model (default: "embed-english-v3.0")
input_type (string) - Type: "search_document", "search_query", "classification", or "clustering"

Example: ``json { "texts": ["Document 1", "Document 2"], "model": "embed-english-v3.0", "input_type": "search_document" } ``

cohere_rerank

Rerank documents based on relevance to a query (ideal for RAG systems).

Parameters:

query (string, required) - The search query
documents (array of strings, required) - Documents to rerank (max 1000)
model (string) - Rerank model (default: "rerank-english-v3.0")
top_n (number) - Number of results to return (default: 10)

Example: ``json { "query": "What is machine learning?", "documents": ["Doc about ML", "Doc about cooking", "Doc about AI"], "top_n": 5 } ``

cohere_aya_chat

Chat using multilingual Aya models (supports 23+ languages).

Parameters:

message (string, required) - User message in any supported language
model (string) - Aya model (default: "aya-expanse-32b")
language (string) - Target response language (optional)
temperature (number) - Sampling temperature (default: 0.7)
max_tokens (number) - Maximum tokens (default: 4096)

cohere_summarize

Summarize text content.

Parameters:

text (string, required) - Text to summarize
model (string) - Model to use (default: "command-r")
length (string) - "short", "medium", or "long"
format (string) - "paragraph" or "bullets"

cohere_classify

Classify texts based on example training data.

Parameters:

inputs (array of strings, required) - Texts to classify
examples (array of objects, required) - Training examples with "text" and "label" keys
model (string) - Model to use (default: "embed-english-v3.0")

Available Resources

cohere://models

Lists all available Cohere models with their capabilities, context lengths, and recommended use cases.

cohere://config

Shows current server configuration including default models and settings.

Configuration

The server can be configured via environment variables:

| Variable | Description | Default | |----------|-------------|---------| | COHERE_API_KEY | Your Cohere API key | Required | | COHERE_DEFAULT_CHAT_MODEL | Default chat model | command-a-03-2025 | | COHERE_DEFAULT_EMBED_MODEL | Default embedding model | embed-english-v3.0 | | COHERE_DEFAULT_RERANK_MODEL | Default rerank model | rerank-english-v3.0 | | COHERE_TIMEOUT | API request timeout (seconds) | 60 | | COHERE_MAX_RETRIES | Maximum API retry attempts | 3 |

Development

Install Development Dependencies

pip install -e ".[dev]"

This installs testing and linting tools:

pytest - Testing framework
black - Code formatter
ruff - Linter
mypy - Type checker

Running Tests

pytest

Run with coverage: ``bash pytest --cov=cohere_mcp --cov-report=html ``

Code Quality

Format code: ``bash black src/ tests/ ``

Lint code: ``bash ruff check src/ tests/ ``

Type check: ``bash mypy src/ ``

Project Structure

cohere-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   └── cohere_mcp/
│       ├── __init__.py      # Package initialization
│       ├── config.py        # Configuration management
│       ├── client.py        # Cohere API client wrapper
│       └── server.py        # MCP server implementation
├── tests/                   # Test suite
│   ├── conftest.py
│   ├── test_config.py
│   ├── test_client.py
│   └── test_server.py
├── pyproject.toml           # Project configuration
└── README.md                # This file

Use Cases

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

Embed documents: Use cohere_embed with input_type="search_document"
Embed query: Use cohere_embed with input_type="search_query"
Rerank results: Use cohere_rerank to improve relevance
Generate response: Use cohere_chat with retrieved context

Semantic Search

Index documents using cohere_embed
Search with query embeddings
Optionally rerank with cohere_rerank

Multilingual Applications

Use cohere_aya_chat for conversations in:

English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese
Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish
Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Hindi, Bengali, and many more

Troubleshooting

"Cohere client not initialized" error

Make sure you've set the COHERE_API_KEY environment variable: ``bash export COHERE_API_KEY="your-key-here" ``

API Key Issues

Verify your API key at https://dashboard.cohere.com/api-keys
Ensure the key has proper permissions
Check for any whitespace in the key value

Connection Issues

Check your internet connection
Verify Cohere API status
Increase timeout with COHERE_TIMEOUT environment variable

API Pricing

Refer to Cohere's pricing page for current API costs.

Resources

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Support

For issues and questions:

Cohere API issues: Cohere Support
MCP Server issues: Open an issue in this repository
MCP Protocol: MCP Documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Add tests for new functionality
Submit a pull request

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Built with Cohere and Model Context Protocol

Cohere MCP Server