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openclaw/docs/providers/cohere.md
Vincent Koc c892a712e6 feat(plugins): externalize Cohere and Meta providers (#116662)
* feat(plugins): externalize Cohere and Meta providers

* docs(changelog): note provider externalization

* chore: keep changelog release-owned
2026-07-31 12:53:01 +08:00

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---
summary: "Cohere setup (auth + model selection)"
title: "Cohere"
read_when:
- You want to use Cohere with OpenClaw
- You need the Cohere API key env var or CLI auth choice
---
[Cohere](https://cohere.com) provides OpenAI-compatible inference through its Compatibility API. OpenClaw provides Cohere as an official external plugin.
| Property | Value |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Provider id | `cohere` |
| Plugin | `@openclaw/cohere-provider` |
| Auth env var | `COHERE_API_KEY` |
| Onboarding flag | `--auth-choice cohere-api-key` |
| Direct CLI flag | `--cohere-api-key <key>` |
| API | OpenAI-compatible (`openai-completions`) |
| Base URL | `https://api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1` |
| Default model | `cohere/command-a-plus-05-2026` |
| Context window | 128,000 tokens |
## Built-in catalog
| Model ref | Visibility | Input | Context | Max output | Notes |
| ------------------------------------ | ---------- | ----------- | ------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| `cohere/command-a-plus-05-2026` | visible | text, image | 128,000 | 64,000 | Default; flagship agentic and reasoning model |
| `cohere/command-a-03-2025` | hidden | text | 256,000 | 8,000 | Previous generation; replaced by Command A+ |
| `cohere/command-a-reasoning-08-2025` | hidden | text | 256,000 | 32,000 | Previous generation; replaced by Command A+ |
| `cohere/command-a-vision-07-2025` | hidden | text, image | 128,000 | 8,000 | Previous generation; replaced by Command A+ |
| `cohere/north-mini-code-1-0` | visible | text, image | 256,000 | 64,000 | Agentic coding; reasoning; free limits |
Reasoning-capable Cohere models support two Compatibility API reasoning modes. OpenClaw maps **off** to `none` and every enabled thinking level to `high`. Command A Vision does not support tool use, so OpenClaw keeps agent tools disabled for that model.
## Get started
1. Install the official plugin and restart the Gateway:
```bash
openclaw plugins install @openclaw/cohere-provider
openclaw gateway restart
```
2. Create a Cohere API key.
3. Run onboarding:
```bash
openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
--auth-choice cohere-api-key \
--cohere-api-key "$COHERE_API_KEY"
```
4. Confirm the catalog is available:
```bash
openclaw models list --provider cohere
```
Onboarding only sets Cohere as the primary model when no primary model is already configured.
## Environment-only setup
Make `COHERE_API_KEY` available to the Gateway process, then select the Cohere model:
```json5
{
agents: {
defaults: {
model: { primary: "cohere/command-a-plus-05-2026" },
},
},
}
```
<Note>
If the Gateway runs as a daemon or in Docker, set `COHERE_API_KEY` for that service. Exporting it only in an interactive shell does not make it available to an already-running Gateway.
</Note>
## Related
- [Model providers](/concepts/model-providers)
- [Models CLI](/cli/models)
- [Provider directory](/providers/index)