List and count tokens

The Vertex AI SDK for Python (1.60.0 and later) includes an integrated tokenizer, which lets you list and count the tokens of a prompt locally without having to make API calls. This page shows you how to list the tokens and their token IDs of a prompt and how to get a total token count of a prompt by using the Vertex AI SDK for Python.

Tokens and the importance of token listing and counting

Generative AI models break down text and other data in a prompt into units called tokens for processing. The way that data is converted into tokens depends on the tokenizer used. A token can be characters, words, or phrases.

Each model has a maximum number of tokens that it can handle in a prompt and response. Knowing the token count of your prompt lets you know whether you've exceeded this limit or not. Additionally, counting tokens also returns the billable characters for the prompt, which helps you estimate cost.

Listing tokens returns a list of the tokens that your prompt is broken down into. Each listed token is associated with a token ID, which helps you perform troubleshooting and analyze model behavior.

Supported models

The following table shows you the models that support token listing and token counting:

Model Version
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite gemini-2.0-flash-lite-001
Gemini 2.0 Flash gemini-2.0-flash-001

Get a list of tokens and token IDs for a prompt

The following code sample shows you how to get a list of tokens and token IDs for a prompt. The prompt must contain only text. Multimodal prompts are not supported.

Gen AI SDK for Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai
 To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Gen AI SDK with Vertex AI: 

# Replace the `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT` and `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION` values
# with appropriate values for your project.
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True
 

from google import genai
from google.genai.types import HttpOptions

client = genai.Client(http_options=HttpOptions(api_version="v1"))
response = client.models.compute_tokens(
    model="gemini-2.0-flash-001",
    contents="What's the longest word in the English language?",
)

print(response)
# Example output:
# tokens_info=[TokensInfo(
#    role='user',
#    token_ids=[1841, 235303, 235256, 573, 32514, 2204, 575, 573, 4645, 5255, 235336],
#    tokens=[b'What', b"'", b's', b' the', b' longest', b' word', b' in', b' the', b' English', b' language', b'?']
#  )]

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import (
	"context"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	genai "google.golang.org/genai"
)

// computeWithTxt shows how to compute tokens with text input.
func computeWithTxt(w io.Writer) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := genai.NewClient(ctx, &genai.ClientConfig{
		HTTPOptions: genai.HTTPOptions{APIVersion: "v1"},
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create genai client: %w", err)
	}

	modelName := "gemini-2.0-flash-001"
	contents := []*genai.Content{
		{Parts: []*genai.Part{
			{Text: "What's the longest word in the English language?"},
		}},
	}

	resp, err := client.Models.ComputeTokens(ctx, modelName, contents, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to generate content: %w", err)
	}

	type tokenInfoDisplay struct {
		IDs    []int64  `json:"token_ids"`
		Tokens []string `json:"tokens"`
	}
	// See the documentation: https://pkg.go.dev/google.golang.org/genai#ComputeTokensResponse
	for _, instance := range resp.TokensInfo {
		display := tokenInfoDisplay{
			IDs:    instance.TokenIDs,
			Tokens: make([]string, len(instance.Tokens)),
		}
		for i, t := range instance.Tokens {
			display.Tokens[i] = string(t)
		}

		data, err := json.MarshalIndent(display, "", "  ")
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal token info: %w", err)
		}
		fmt.Fprintln(w, string(data))
	}

	// Example response:
	// {
	// 	"ids": [
	// 		1841,
	// 		235303,
	// 		235256,
	//    ...
	// 	],
	// 	"values": [
	// 		"What",
	// 		"'",
	// 		"s",
	//    ...
	// 	]
	// }

	return nil
}

Get the token count and billable characters of a prompt

The following code sample shows you how to Get the token count and the number of billable characters of a prompt. Both text-only and multimodal prompts are supported.

Gen AI SDK for Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai
 To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Gen AI SDK with Vertex AI: 

# Replace the `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT` and `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION` values
# with appropriate values for your project.
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True
 

from google import genai
from google.genai.types import HttpOptions

client = genai.Client(http_options=HttpOptions(api_version="v1"))

prompt = "Why is the sky blue?"

# Send text to Gemini
response = client.models.generate_content(
    model="gemini-2.0-flash-001", contents=prompt
)

# Prompt and response tokens count
print(response.usage_metadata)

# Example output:
#  cached_content_token_count=None
#  candidates_token_count=311
#  prompt_token_count=6
#  total_token_count=317

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import (
	"context"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	genai "google.golang.org/genai"
)

// generateTextAndCount shows how to generate text and obtain token count metadata from the model response.
func generateTextAndCount(w io.Writer) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := genai.NewClient(ctx, &genai.ClientConfig{
		HTTPOptions: genai.HTTPOptions{APIVersion: "v1"},
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create genai client: %w", err)
	}

	modelName := "gemini-2.0-flash-001"
	contents := []*genai.Content{
		{Parts: []*genai.Part{
			{Text: "Why is the sky blue?"},
		}},
	}

	resp, err := client.Models.GenerateContent(ctx, modelName, contents, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to generate content: %w", err)
	}

	usage, err := json.MarshalIndent(resp.UsageMetadata, "", "  ")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to convert usage metadata to JSON: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintln(w, string(usage))

	// Example response:
	// {
	// 	 "candidatesTokenCount": 339,
	// 	 "promptTokenCount": 6,
	// 	 "totalTokenCount": 345
	// }

	return nil
}