List and count tokens

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 Google Gen AI SDK.

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.

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:

Click to expand supported models

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.

Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=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-3.5-flash",
    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

Learn how to install or update the Go.

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

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-2.5-flash"
	contents := []*genai.Content{
		{Parts: []*genai.Part{
			{Text: "What's the longest word in the English language?"},
		},
			Role: genai.RoleUser},
	}

	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
}

Node.js

Install

npm install @google/genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

const {GoogleGenAI} = require('@google/genai');

const GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT;
const GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION || 'global';

async function countTokens(
  projectId = GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT,
  location = GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
) {
  const client = new GoogleGenAI({
    vertexai: true,
    project: projectId,
    location: location,
    httpOptions: {apiVersion: 'v1'},
  });

  const response = await client.models.computeTokens({
    model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
    contents: "What's the longest word in the English language?",
  });

  console.log(response);

  return response.tokensInfo;
}

Java

Learn how to install or update the Java.

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 


import com.google.genai.Client;
import com.google.genai.types.ComputeTokensResponse;
import com.google.genai.types.HttpOptions;
import com.google.genai.types.TokensInfo;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;

public class CountTokensComputeWithText {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String modelId = "gemini-2.5-flash";
    computeTokens(modelId);
  }

  // Computes tokens with text input
  public static Optional<List<TokensInfo>> computeTokens(String modelId) {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.
    try (Client client =
        Client.builder()
            .location("global")
            .vertexAI(true)
            .httpOptions(HttpOptions.builder().apiVersion("v1").build())
            .build()) {

      ComputeTokensResponse response = client.models.computeTokens(
              modelId, "What's the longest word in the English language?", null);

      // Print TokensInfo
      response.tokensInfo().ifPresent(tokensInfoList -> {
        for (TokensInfo info : tokensInfoList) {
          info.role().ifPresent(role -> System.out.println("role: " + role));
          info.tokenIds().ifPresent(tokenIds -> System.out.println("tokenIds: " + tokenIds));
          // print tokens input as strings since they are in a form of byte array
          System.out.println("tokens: ");
          info.tokens().ifPresent(tokens ->
              tokens.forEach(token ->
                  System.out.println(new String(token, StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
              )
          );
        }
      });
      // Example response.tokensInfo()
      // role: user
      // tokenIds: [1841, 235303, 235256, 573, 32514, 2204, 575, 573, 4645, 5255, 235336]
      // tokens:
      // What
      // '
      // s
      // the
      return response.tokensInfo();
    }
  }
}

Get the token count of a prompt

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

Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=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-3.5-flash", 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

Learn how to install or update the Go.

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

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-2.5-flash"
	contents := []*genai.Content{
		{Parts: []*genai.Part{
			{Text: "Why is the sky blue?"},
		},
			Role: genai.RoleUser},
	}

	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
}

Node.js

Install

npm install @google/genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

const {GoogleGenAI} = require('@google/genai');

const GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT;
const GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION || 'global';

async function countTokens(
  projectId = GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT,
  location = GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
) {
  const client = new GoogleGenAI({
    vertexai: true,
    project: projectId,
    location: location,
    httpOptions: {apiVersion: 'v1'},
  });

  const response = await client.models.generateContent({
    model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
    contents: 'Why is the sky blue?',
  });

  console.log(response.usageMetadata);

  return response.usageMetadata;
}

Java

Learn how to install or update the Java.

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 


import com.google.genai.Client;
import com.google.genai.types.GenerateContentResponse;
import com.google.genai.types.GenerateContentResponseUsageMetadata;
import com.google.genai.types.HttpOptions;
import java.util.Optional;

public class CountTokensResponseWithText {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String modelId = "gemini-2.5-flash";
    countTokens(modelId);
  }

  // Generates content response usage metadata that contains prompt and response token counts
  public static Optional<GenerateContentResponseUsageMetadata> countTokens(String modelId) {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.
    try (Client client =
        Client.builder()
            .location("global")
            .vertexAI(true)
            .httpOptions(HttpOptions.builder().apiVersion("v1").build())
            .build()) {

      GenerateContentResponse response =
              client.models.generateContent(modelId, "Why is the sky blue?", null);

      response.usageMetadata().ifPresent(System.out::println);
      // Example response:
      // GenerateContentResponseUsageMetadata{cacheTokensDetails=Optional.empty,
      // cachedContentTokenCount=Optional.empty, candidatesTokenCount=Optional[569],
      // candidatesTokensDetails=Optional[[ModalityTokenCount{modality=Optional[TEXT],
      // tokenCount=Optional[569]}]], promptTokenCount=Optional[6],
      // promptTokensDetails=Optional[[ModalityTokenCount{modality=Optional[TEXT],
      // tokenCount=Optional[6]}]], thoughtsTokenCount=Optional[1132],
      // toolUsePromptTokenCount=Optional.empty, toolUsePromptTokensDetails=Optional.empty,
      // totalTokenCount=Optional[1707], trafficType=Optional[ON_DEMAND]}
      return response.usageMetadata();
    }
  }
}

Count tokens locally

For large prompts, counting tokens using the Count Tokens API may be fairly memory-intensive. The Google Gen AI SDK also supports local token counting to simplify those operations.

To count just the tokens, use count_tokens:

Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

from google.genai.local_tokenizer import LocalTokenizer

tokenizer = LocalTokenizer(model_name="gemini-3.5-flash")
response = tokenizer.count_tokens("What's the highest mountain in Africa?")
print(response)
# Example output:
#   total_tokens=10

To count the tokens and get their token IDs, use compute_tokens instead:

Python

Install

pip install --upgrade google-genai

To learn more, see the SDK reference documentation.

Set environment variables to use the Google 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=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_ENTERPRISE=True
 

from google.genai.local_tokenizer import LocalTokenizer

tokenizer = LocalTokenizer(model_name="gemini-3.5-flash")
response = tokenizer.compute_tokens("What's the longest word in the English language?")
print(response)
# Example output:
# tokens_info=[TokensInfo(
#     role='user',
#     token_ids=[3689, 236789, 236751, 506,
#               27801, 3658, 528, 506, 5422, 5192, 236881],
#     tokens=[b'What', b"'", b's', b' the', b' longest',
#            b' word', b' in', b' the', b' English', b' language', b'?']
#     )]