Cohere API API in Ruby

Cohere API API in Ruby

This guide shows you how to integrate the Cohere API into your Ruby application. NLP platform for text generation, classification, embedding, and reranking with Command R models.

Prerequisites

  • Ruby installed on your system
  • An Cohere API API key (sign up at https://cohere.ai)
  • Basic familiarity with HTTP APIs

Installation

gem install httparty

Basic Usage

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

api_key = ENV['API_KEY'] || 'YOUR_API_KEY'
base_url = 'https://api.cohere.ai'
uri = URI("#{base_url}/v1/resources")

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
request['Authorization'] = "Bearer #{api_key}"
request['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'

response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: uri.scheme == 'https') do |http|
  http.request(request)
end

puts "Status: #{response.code}"
puts response.body

Error Handling

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

def call_api_with_retry(url, headers, max_retries = 3)
  uri = URI(url)
  max_retries.times do |attempt|
    request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
    headers.each { |k, v| request[k] = v }
    response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: uri.scheme == 'https') do |http|
      http.request(request)
    end
    if response.code == '429'
      sleep(60)
      next
    end
    return response unless response.code.to_i >= 500
    sleep(2 ** attempt)
  end
  raise "Max retries exceeded"
end

url = 'https://api.cohere.ai/v1/resources'
headers = { 'Authorization' => "Bearer #{ENV['API_KEY']}", 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' }
response = call_api_with_retry(url, headers)
puts response.body

Advanced Usage

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

class CohereClient
  def initialize(api_key, base_url = 'https://api.cohere.ai')
    @api_key = api_key
    @base_url = base_url.chomp('/')
  end

  def request(method, path, body = nil)
    uri = URI("#{@base_url}/v1#{path}")
    http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
    http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == 'https'
    request_class = Net::HTTP.const_get(method.capitalize)
    request = request_class.new(uri)
    request['Authorization'] = "Bearer #{@api_key}"
    request['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
    request.body = body.to_json if body
    response = http.request(request)
    raise "API Error: #{response.code}" if response.code.to_i >= 400
    JSON.parse(response.body)
  end

  def list_resources(params = {})
    query = URI.encode_www_form(params)
    path = "/resources#{query.empty? ? '' : '?' + query}"
    request('get', path)
  end

  def create_resource(data)
    request('post', '/resources', data)
  end
end

client = CohereClient.new(ENV['API_KEY'] || 'YOUR_API_KEY')
resources = client.list_resources(limit: 50)
puts "Found #{resources['data']&.length || 0} resources"

Best Practices

  • Store your API key in an environment variable, never in source code
  • Implement retry logic with exponential backoff for 429 and 5xx errors
  • Set reasonable timeouts (10-30 seconds) for all API calls
  • Log request IDs from response headers for debugging
  • Cache responses where appropriate to reduce API calls

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