What the term really means
A unit of text processed by a model that may represent part of a word, a whole word or a character.
How it works in practice
Token count affects cost and context limits but does not equal word count, especially across languages and formats.
The decision to make before implementation
Application design must budget for instructions, history, sources, tool calls and output.
How to verify that it works
Measure input and output tokens by feature, detect spikes and reduce repeated context without removing critical information. Compare results with an agreed baseline and review routine cases, difficult exceptions and human hand-offs separately. A practical Token test should have an owner, a review date and a recorded example of an outcome the team will not accept.
The PAR HOUSE Agency approach
We approach Token from the workflow rather than a tool demonstration. Application design must budget for instructions, history, sources, tool calls and output. We then build a small measurable scope, record assumptions and expand only after quality review.
