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Cohere API 500 / 503 / 504 Server Errors

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Ongoing API Updated November 14, 2026Based on 2 user reportsHow we research

Quick answer

5xx errors come from Cohere's side (internal error, high concurrent usage, or timeouts). Retry with backoff, check the status page and contact support if it persists.

Most likely fix: Retry with backoff

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

  1. 1. Retry with backoff

    1. Retry 503 and 504 after a short delay, increasing each time
    2. Do not retry blindly in tight loops
    Did this fix it?

  2. 2. Reduce request size

    1. Send smaller batches
    2. Lower max_tokens for Chat where possible
    Did this fix it?

  3. 3. Contact support

    1. Email support@cohere.com or use Discord with the request id from the error body
    Did this fix it?

Symptoms

Requests fail with 500, 503 or 504, sometimes only on large or slow requests.

Why it happens

  • Internal server error (500)
  • Service unavailable under high concurrent usage (503)
  • Gateway timeout when an internal service is slow (504)
  • Very large requests that take long

This guide also covers

  • cohere api 503
  • cohere api timeout
  • cohere api 500 error

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