# Cohere Local Dev Loop

> Configure Cohere local development with mocking, testing, and hot reload. Use when setting up a development environment, configuring test workflows, or establishing a fast iteration cycle with Cohere API v2. Trigger with phrases like "cohere dev setup", "cohere local development", "cohere dev environment", "develop with cohere", "mock cohere".

- Skill: `gabrielmoreira/cohere-local-dev-loop` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add gabrielmoreira/cohere-local-dev-loop`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/gabrielmoreira/cohere-local-dev-loop/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector CAUTION)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Integrations & APIs
- License: MIT
- Author: gabrielmoreira (https://skillmd.com/u/gabrielmoreira)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/gabrielmoreira/cohere-local-dev-loop

---

# Cohere Local Dev Loop

## Overview

Set up a fast, reproducible local development workflow with Cohere API v2 mocking, vitest testing, and hot reload.

## Prerequisites

- Completed `cohere-install-auth` setup
- Node.js 18+ with npm/pnpm
- TypeScript project with `tsx` or `ts-node`

## Instructions

### Step 1: Project Structure

```
my-cohere-project/
├── src/
│   ├── cohere/
│   │   ├── client.ts       # CohereClientV2 wrapper
│   │   ├── chat.ts         # Chat completions
│   │   ├── embed.ts        # Embedding operations
│   │   └── rerank.ts       # Reranking operations
│   └── index.ts
├── tests/
│   ├── chat.test.ts
│   ├── embed.test.ts
│   └── fixtures/
│       └── responses.ts    # Mock API responses
├── .env.local              # Local secrets (git-ignored)
├── .env.example            # Template for team
└── package.json
```

### Step 2: Package Setup

```json
{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "tsx watch src/index.ts",
    "test": "vitest",
    "test:watch": "vitest --watch",
    "test:integration": "COHERE_INTEGRATION=1 vitest --run"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "cohere-ai": "^7.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "tsx": "^4.0.0",
    "vitest": "^2.0.0",
    "typescript": "^5.5.0"
  }
}
```

### Step 3: Client Wrapper

```typescript
// src/cohere/client.ts
import { CohereClientV2 } from 'cohere-ai';

let instance: CohereClientV2 | null = null;

export function getCohere(): CohereClientV2 {
  if (!instance) {
    instance = new CohereClientV2({
      token: process.env.CO_API_KEY,
    });
  }
  return instance;
}

// Reset for testing
export function resetClient(): void {
  instance = null;
}
```

### Step 4: Mock Fixtures

```typescript
// tests/fixtures/responses.ts
export const mockChatResponse = {
  id: 'test-chat-id',
  message: {
    role: 'assistant' as const,
    content: [{ type: 'text' as const, text: 'Mocked response' }],
  },
  finishReason: 'COMPLETE' as const,
  usage: { billedUnits: { inputTokens: 10, outputTokens: 5 } },
};

export const mockEmbedResponse = {
  id: 'test-embed-id',
  embeddings: {
    float: [[0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]], // truncated for dev
  },
  meta: { billedUnits: { inputTokens: 4 } },
};

export const mockRerankResponse = {
  id: 'test-rerank-id',
  results: [
    { index: 0, relevanceScore: 0.95 },
    { index: 2, relevanceScore: 0.72 },
  ],
  meta: { billedUnits: { searchUnits: 1 } },
};
```

### Step 5: Test with Mocks

```typescript
// tests/chat.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach } from 'vitest';
import { mockChatResponse } from './fixtures/responses';

vi.mock('cohere-ai', () => ({
  CohereClientV2: vi.fn().mockImplementation(() => ({
    chat: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(mockChatResponse),
    chatStream: vi.fn().mockReturnValue({
      [Symbol.asyncIterator]: async function* () {
        yield { type: 'content-delta', delta: { message: { content: { text: 'Hi' } } } };
      },
    }),
    embed: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ embeddings: { float: [[0.1, 0.2]] } }),
    rerank: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
      results: [{ index: 0, relevanceScore: 0.9 }],
    }),
  })),
}));

describe('Cohere Chat', () => {
  it('should return a chat completion', async () => {
    const { CohereClientV2 } = await import('cohere-ai');
    const cohere = new CohereClientV2();

    const result = await cohere.chat({
      model: 'command-a-03-2025',
      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'test' }],
    });

    expect(result.message?.content?.[0]?.text).toBe('Mocked response');
    expect(result.finishReason).toBe('COMPLETE');
  });
});
```

### Step 6: Integration Tests (Optional, Hits Real API)

```typescript
// tests/integration.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
import { CohereClientV2 } from 'cohere-ai';

const shouldRun = process.env.COHERE_INTEGRATION === '1';

describe.skipIf(!shouldRun)('Cohere Integration', () => {
  const cohere = new CohereClientV2();

  it('chat endpoint responds', async () => {
    const res = await cohere.chat({
      model: 'command-r7b-12-2024', // cheapest model for tests
      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say OK' }],
      maxTokens: 5,
    });
    expect(res.message?.content?.[0]?.text).toBeTruthy();
  }, 15_000);

  it('embed endpoint responds', async () => {
    const res = await cohere.embed({
      model: 'embed-v4.0',
      texts: ['test'],
      inputType: 'search_document',
      embeddingTypes: ['float'],
    });
    expect(res.embeddings.float[0].length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
  }, 15_000);
});
```

## Environment Management

```bash
# .env.example (commit this)
CO_API_KEY=your-trial-key-here

# .env.local (git-ignored, used by tsx/vitest)
CO_API_KEY=actual-key

# .gitignore entries
.env.local
.env.*.local
```

## Output

- Working dev environment with hot reload via `tsx watch`
- Unit tests with mocked Cohere responses (no API calls)
- Optional integration tests gated by `COHERE_INTEGRATION=1`
- Mock fixtures matching real API v2 response shapes

## Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| `vi.mock not working` | Wrong import order | Mock before importing modules |
| `CO_API_KEY undefined` | .env not loaded | Use `dotenv/config` or tsx env support |
| Integration test timeout | Slow network | Increase timeout to 15s+ |
| Type mismatch on mock | API shape changed | Update fixtures to match SDK types |

## Examples

Run unit tests with a mocked v2 chat response and assert that no credential or
network call is needed, then enable one integration test only in the isolated
staging environment. If fixture and SDK shapes diverge, update the sanitized
fixture and contract assertion before allowing application changes to merge.

## Resources

- [Vitest Documentation](https://vitest.dev/)
- [tsx (TypeScript Execute)](https://github.com/privatenumber/tsx)
- [Cohere TypeScript SDK](https://github.com/cohere-ai/cohere-typescript)

## Next Steps

See `cohere-sdk-patterns` for production-ready code patterns.