Token Usage & Shared Pool
Understand how LLM tokens are calculated, how the company-wide shared token pool operates, and how to optimize consumption.
We start with What are tokens and how are they consumed?, move on to Company-wide shared token pool, cover Model tiers and smart routing, and wrap up with Best practices for token optimization.
What are tokens and how are they consumed?
Large language models process text not as full words, but as mathematical subunits called "tokens" (in English, 1,000 words typically equates to ~1,300 tokens).
Every task executed by an agent comprises two consumption stages:
- Input Tokens: The prompt you send, conversation context history, uploaded documents (PDFs, spreadsheets), active agent directives, and system rules.
- Output Tokens: The agent's generated response, structured data tables, synthesized code, and tool execution parameters.
Model tiers and smart routing
Not every business task demands maximum reasoning horsepower:
- Standard Models (1x Weight): Customer inquiries, appointment scheduling, meeting summarization, and rapid document queries.
- Genius / Advanced Reasoning Models (3x–5x Weight): Deep multi-table database queries, legal document contract analysis, multi-agent synthesis, and autonomous coding.
Botonom's Smart Router automatically selects the most efficient model tier based on task complexity, ensuring your token pool lasts longer.
Best practices for token optimization
- Precise Directives: Write concise, clear directives rather than repetitive paragraphs.
- Selective Knowledge Ingestion: Upload relevant chapters or documents rather than raw, uncompressed 500-page archives.
- Task Scoping: Break massive multi-department workflows into modular steps with human verification gates.

