Token Count

Estimate text token counts and costs for supported AI models using character-based rules, without calling a model.

Pay by wallet (x402) token-count

Example

Example answer

{
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "text_length": 54,
  "token_count": 14,
  "model_recognized": true,
  "cost_per_1k_tokens": 0.0025,
  "estimated_cost_usd": 0.000035,
  "fits_context_window": true,
  "chars_per_token_used": 4,
  "max_context_for_model": 128000
}

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	What it is
`text`	string	Yes	—
`model`	string	No	gpt-4o, claude-3-haiku, etc.

Output fields

How reliably each field appears in a successful answer.

Field	Type	Appears
`token_count`	integer	Always (present in every successful answer)
`estimated_cost_usd`	number	Always (present in every successful answer)
`fits_context_window`	boolean	Always (present in every successful answer)
`max_context_for_model`	integer	Always (present in every successful answer)

How to call it

The same tool through each route. MCP clients reach it through Strale’s server at https://api.strale.io/mcp; the call below is what the agent sends.

# Needs an API key. max_price_cents caps what this call may cost.
curl -X POST https://api.strale.io/v1/do \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STRALE_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "capability_slug": "token-count",
    "inputs": {
      "text": "This is a test input for automated capability testing."
    },
    "max_price_cents": 2
  }'

{
  "tool": "strale_execute",
  "arguments": {
    "slug": "token-count",
    "inputs": {
      "text": "This is a test input for automated capability testing."
    },
    "max_price_cents": 2
  }
}

import { Strale } from "straleio";

const strale = new Strale({ apiKey: process.env.STRALE_API_KEY! });
const result = await strale.do({
  capability_slug: "token-count",
  inputs: {
    "text": "This is a test input for automated capability testing."
  },
  max_price_cents: 2,
});

import os
from straleio import Strale, DoRequest

strale = Strale(api_key=os.environ["STRALE_API_KEY"])
result = strale.do(DoRequest(
    capability_slug="token-count",
    inputs={
        "text": "This is a test input for automated capability testing.",
    },
    max_price_cents=2,
))

# No account. The first request answers 402 with the price in USDC;
# an x402 client pays it from your wallet and repeats the request.
curl -i 'https://api.strale.io/x402/v2/token-count?text=This+is+a+test+input+for+automated+capability+testing.'

Limitations

Estimated token counts can differ by 5–15%
Token counts are estimated using character-based heuristics — actual counts vary by 5-15% depending on the tokenizer
What to do instead: Use the target model provider’s official tokenizer for exact counts.