---
title: "Estimate input tokens – Superbot API"
canonical_url: "https://superbot.gg/developers/gateway/countMessageTokens"
summary: "A local estimate (characters / 4). No upstream call and no charge."
---

> Markdown of https://superbot.gg/developers/gateway/countMessageTokens. Site index: /llms.txt.

# Estimate input tokens

`POST /v1/messages/count_tokens`

A local estimate (characters / 4). No upstream call and no charge.

- Operation id: `countMessageTokens`
- Group: [Gateway](https://superbot.gg/developers/gateway.md)
- Auth: Any live caller key (`Authorization: Bearer sbc_…` or `x-api-key: sbc_…`).
- Scopes: none
- Body reference: [Anthropic count tokens reference](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/api/messages-count-tokens)

## Request body

`application/json`, required. An Anthropic Messages body; only `messages` is read.

- `model` (string, required)

## Response 200

The estimate.

`application/json`: TokenCount.

- `input_tokens` (integer, required)

## Errors

Every refusal carries `error`, `message`, `doc_url` and `request_id`; the gateway routes answer in the dialect you dialed.

| Status | Codes | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 400 | [`invalid_request`](https://superbot.gg/developers#errors-invalid_request) | The body is not JSON. |
| 401 | [`unauthorized`](https://superbot.gg/developers#errors-unauthorized) | Missing, malformed or unknown key. A 401 that carries `x-superbot-error-origin: vendor` is your vendor credential’s refusal, not the gateway’s. |
| 403 | [`insufficient_scope`](https://superbot.gg/developers#errors-insufficient_scope) | The key is revoked. |

## Examples

```sh
curl -sS -X POST "https://superbot.gg/v1/messages/count_tokens" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERBOT_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"superbot"}'
```

```js
const res = await fetch(`https://superbot.gg/v1/messages/count_tokens`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SUPERBOT_API_KEY}`,
    'content-type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({"model":"superbot"}),
});
console.log(res.status, await res.json());
```

```python
import os
import requests

res = requests.request(
    "POST",
    "https://superbot.gg/v1/messages/count_tokens",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUPERBOT_API_KEY']}",
        "content-type": "application/json",
    },
    json={"model":"superbot"},
)
print(res.status_code, res.json())
```