Bring Llm
to VS Code Copilot
Learn how to connect Cohere to VS Code Copilot and start using 6 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
GDPR Free for Subscribers
What is the Cohere MCP Server?
Connect your Cohere account to any AI agent and leverage enterprise-grade AI models through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Model Discovery — List all available Cohere models with their names, capabilities and context lengths
- Chat API — Send conversations to Command models (command-r-plus, command-r, command-r7b) and receive responses with citations and tool call support
- Embeddings — Generate vector embeddings for semantic search with multiple embedding types (float, int8, uint8, binary)
- Reranking — Rerank documents by relevance to a search query using Cohere's industry-leading reranking models
- Tokenization — Tokenize and detokenize text for estimating token counts and debugging
How it works
1. Subscribe to this server
2. Enter your Cohere API Key
3. Start using Cohere models from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client
No more switching between API tools to interact with Cohere. Your AI acts as an LLM orchestration layer.
Who is this for?
- Developers — quickly send messages to Command models, generate embeddings and rerank search results without writing HTTP code
- ML Engineers — discover available models, compare capabilities and generate embeddings with multiple types (float, int8, binary)
- Search Teams — rerank documents by relevance, tokenize text and generate embeddings for search index building
Built-in capabilities (6)
Requires the model ID (e.g. "command-r-plus", "command-r", "command-r7b") and messages array in JSON format. Each message must have a "role" ("user", "assistant", "system" or "tool") and "content" (text or array of content blocks). Optionally set max_tokens, temperature (0-1), p (nucleus sampling 0-1) and tools array for function calling. Returns the model's response with text, citations and tool calls. Send a chat message to a Cohere model
Requires the token IDs array. Returns the reconstructed text. Useful for debugging and verifying tokenization. Detokenize token IDs back to text using Cohere
Requires the model ID (e.g. "embed-v4", "embed-v3"), texts array and input_type ("search_document", "search_query", "classification", "clustering"). Returns embedding vectors for each input text. Useful for semantic search, similarity comparison and vector database storage. Generate embeddings using Cohere
Each model returns its name (e.g. "command-r-plus", "command-r", "embed-v4", "rerank-v3.5"), endpoint compatibility, context length and tokenization info. Use this to discover which models are available and their capabilities. List all available Cohere models
Requires the model ID (e.g. "rerank-v3.5", "rerank-english-v3.0"), query text and documents array. Optionally set top_n to return only the top N results. Returns ranked documents with relevance scores. Rerank documents by relevance to a query
Requires the text to tokenize and optionally the model. Returns the list of token IDs and token strings. Useful for estimating token counts before sending to chat or embed endpoints. Tokenize text using Cohere
Why VS Code Copilot?
GitHub Copilot Agent mode brings Cohere data directly into your VS Code workflow. With a project-scoped config, the entire team shares access to 6 tools. Copilot queries live data, generates typed code, and writes tests from actual API responses, all without leaving the editor.
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VS Code is used by over 70% of developers. adding MCP tools to Copilot means your team can leverage external data without leaving their primary editor
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Project-scoped MCP configs (
.vscode/mcp.json) let you commit server configurations to your repository, ensuring the entire team shares the same tool access - —
Copilot's Agent mode integrates MCP tools seamlessly with file editing, terminal commands, and workspace search in a single agentic loop
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GitHub's enterprise compliance and audit features extend to MCP tool usage, providing visibility into how AI interacts with external services
Cohere in VS Code Copilot
Cohere and 3,400+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect Cohere to VS Code Copilot through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 3,400+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for Cohere in VS Code Copilot
The Cohere MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 6 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in VS Code Copilot only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
Cohere for VS Code Copilot
Every tool call from VS Code Copilot to the Cohere MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a Cohere API Key?
Log in to the Cohere Dashboard, go to API Keys and click Create API Key. Copy the key immediately — it starts with a random string and won't be shown again. Free tier includes trial access with rate limits.
What models are available?
Use the list_models tool to see all available Cohere models. Key models include command-r-plus (most capable, 128K context), command-r (efficient, 128K context), command-r7b (lightweight, 128K context), embed-v4 (embeddings) and rerank-v3.5 (reranking).
Can I send multi-turn conversations?
Yes! Pass a messages array with alternating 'user', 'assistant' and 'system' roles. Each message has a 'role' and 'content' field. Command models support function calling and will return tool_calls when appropriate.
What is reranking and when should I use it?
Reranking reorders a set of documents by their relevance to a query. Use it after an initial search to improve result quality. The rerank tool takes a query, list of documents and returns them ranked by relevance score. Cohere's rerank models are industry-leading for search applications.
Which VS Code version supports MCP?
MCP support requires VS Code 1.99 or later with the GitHub Copilot extension. Ensure both are updated to the latest version. Older versions of Copilot may not expose the Agent mode toggle.
How do I switch to Agent mode?
Open the Copilot Chat panel and look for two mode options: "Ask" and "Agent". Click "Agent" to enable autonomous tool calling. In Ask mode, Copilot provides conversational answers but cannot invoke MCP tools.
Can I restrict which MCP tools Copilot can access?
Yes. VS Code shows a tool consent dialog before any MCP tool is invoked for the first time. You can also configure tool access policies at the organization level through GitHub Copilot settings.
Does MCP work in VS Code Remote or Codespaces?
Yes. MCP servers configured via .vscode/mcp.json work in Remote SSH, WSL, and GitHub Codespaces environments. The MCP connection is established from the remote host, so ensure the server URL is accessible from that environment.
MCP tools not available
Ensure you are in Agent mode in Copilot Chat. MCP tools only appear in Agent mode.