Token Optimization

Token optimization is the discipline of getting the same result from fewer tokens. Common techniques include tightening prompts and system messages, caching repeated context, using retrieval to send only the relevant passages instead of whole documents, trimming output length, and routing each request to the smallest model that can handle it.

Because cost and latency both scale with token count, optimization pays off twice - a cheaper and a faster system. At enterprise scale it is a core practice of the token economy, and it depends on first being able to measure where tokens are actually going.