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tc – Token Counter CLI for Claude

tc is a lightweight CLI tool that counts tokens in your input using Anthropic Claude models. Inspired by the classic Unix tool wc, but for LLM prompts.

✨ Features

  • 🔢 Counts tokens using Claude 3 models
  • 📂 Supports both file input and stdin
  • 🧱 Outputs only the token number (stdout)
  • 📤 Prints errors to stderr
  • 🎯 Supports multiple models via short aliases
  • 🧑‍💻 Written in TypeScript

🚀 Installation

Clone the repo and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/yourname/tc.git
cd tc
npm install

To make the command globally available:

npm link

You can now use tc anywhere in your terminal.

🔐 Setup

You need an Anthropic API key. Create a .env file in the project root:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Or export it:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

🧪 Usage

From a file

tc --file prompt.md

From stdin

cat prompt.md | tc

Specify model

tc --file prompt.md --model haiku
tc --model opus < input.txt

🧠 Supported Model Aliases

Alias Claude Model ID
sonnet claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219
haiku claude-3-haiku@20240307
opus claude-3-opus@20240229
haiku35 claude-3-5-haiku@20241022
sonnet35 claude-3-5-sonnet@20240620
sonnet35v2 claude-3-5-sonnet-v2@20241022

Default model: sonnet

📤 Output

Only the number of tokens is printed to stdout:

$ tc --file input.md
847

Errors and help messages go to stderr:

❌ Unknown model alias: snafu
   Available: sonnet, haiku, opus, sonnet35, haiku35, sonnet35v2

📦 Development

Run with ts-node:

npx ts-node tc.ts --file input.md

Build:

npm run build
node dist/tc.js -f input.md

🛠 License

ISC © BroJor

💡 Inspiration

Built for developers who want to work closely with large language models and need precise token control. Inspired by wc, but LLM-native.