Tokens

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Understand AI tokens in Bolt

Understanding tokens and token usage is critical to using Bolt effectively.

A simple definition of tokens:

Tokens are small pieces of text

“I”, “love”, “cats”, ”!” are all examples of a token.

LLMs process text as tokens, analyze them, and then predict the next tokens to generate a response.

AI tokens are a complex topic related to all AI apps, not just Bolt. For detailed background on tokens in AI, check out Nvidia blog | Explaining Tokens — the Language and Currency of AI.

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Token limits

LLMs can only handle a certain number of tokens at a time and the total includes both:

• The input you give (for example, a long question or document)
• The output it generates (for example, the response, or the code you get back)

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Costs

If you’re using an LLM through a paid service (like you are with Bolt), costs are often calculated based on the number of tokens processed. Fewer tokens means lower cost.

In this table, you can find an approximate guide for estimating token costs for code tasks:

For Bolt specifically, it’s important to note that the majority of token usage is related to syncing your project’s file system to the AI: the larger the project, the more tokens used per message.

Costs can grow very quickly, so refer to Maximizing token efficiency to learn how to keep costs down.

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Reduce your token usage

Refer to the resources on prompting effectively and maximizing token efficiency.

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Buy more tokens

You can upgrade to higher-tier plans that include more tokens in My Subscription. One-off token realoads are no longer available.

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Token rollover

Tokens associated with a paid subscription will roll over for additional 30 days as of July 1, 2025. Please note that you will need to maintain a paid subscription to access any rolled over tokens.