fix(core): use tool_call_schema cache for BaseTool token counting in count_tokens_approximately (#39020)

### Summary

`count_tokens_approximately(..., tools=...)` recomputes each
`BaseTool`'s OpenAI schema on every call by going through
`convert_to_openai_tool()`, even though `BaseTool` already caches an
equivalent schema via `tool_call_schema`. For agents with many
schema-rich tools, this becomes a significant per-turn cost (e.g.
`SummarizationMiddleware` calls it every turn to decide when to compact
history).

This PR reuses the cached `tool_call_schema` for `BaseTool` instances
during token counting. Other tool types (dicts, callables, `BaseModel`
classes) continue using the existing path unchanged.

### Benchmark
Average per-tool schema generation time:

| Path | Cold (1st call) | Warm (subsequent calls) |
|------|----------------:|------------------------:|
| `convert_to_openai_tool()` | 0.0243 ms | 0.0234 ms |
| `tool.tool_call_schema.model_json_schema()` | 0.0005 ms | 0.0001 ms |

This is roughly a **50× speedup on cold calls** and over **200× on warm
calls** for the schema generation step.

`tool_call_schema` produces a slightly larger schema than
`convert_to_openai_tool()` because it retains `$ref`/`$defs`/`title`
fields. Since `count_tokens_approximately` is already an estimate (used
only for trigger decisions), this trades a small overestimation for a
much cheaper computation. Also handles the case where `tool_call_schema`
is already a raw dict.
This commit is contained in:
Nishitha M authored and GitHub committed 2026-07-22 16:28:44 -04:00
1 parent 1e385eb298
commit 6a97222c1e
2 files changed
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@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ from langchain_core.messages.human import HumanMessage, HumanMessageChunk
from langchain_core.messages.modifier import RemoveMessage
from langchain_core.messages.system import SystemMessage, SystemMessageChunk
from langchain_core.messages.tool import ToolCall, ToolMessage, ToolMessageChunk
from langchain_core.utils.function_calling import convert_to_openai_tool
from langchain_core.utils.pydantic import model_json_schema as get_model_json_schema
if TYPE_CHECKING:
from langchain_core.language_models import BaseLanguageModel
@@ -2274,9 +2274,10 @@ def count_tokens_approximately(
using the **most recent** AI message that has
`usage_metadata['total_tokens']`. The scaling factor is:
`AI_total_tokens / approx_tokens_up_to_that_AI_message`
tools: List of tools to include in the token count. Each tool can be either
a `BaseTool` instance or a dict representing a tool schema. `BaseTool`
instances are converted to OpenAI tool format before counting.
tools: List of tools to include in the token count. Each tool can be a
`BaseTool` instance, a dict representing a tool schema, or a plain
callable. `BaseTool` instances and callables are converted to
OpenAI tool format before counting.
Returns:
Approximate number of tokens in the messages (and tools, if provided).
@@ -2304,7 +2305,24 @@ def count_tokens_approximately(
if tools:
tools_chars = 0
for tool in tools:
tool_dict = tool if isinstance(tool, dict) else convert_to_openai_tool(tool)
if isinstance(tool, dict):
tool_dict = tool
else:
# tool_call_schema is memoized per instance
schema = tool.tool_call_schema
if isinstance(schema, dict):
parameters = dict(schema)
else:
parameters = dict(get_model_json_schema(schema))
# Drop the schema's own `title`/`description` to avoid double-counting:
# they're duplicated at the top level.
parameters.pop("title", None)
parameters.pop("description", None)
tool_dict = {
"name": tool.name,
"description": tool.description,
"parameters": parameters,
}
tools_chars += len(json.dumps(tool_dict))
token_count += math.ceil(tools_chars / chars_per_token)
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ from langchain_core.messages.utils import (
merge_message_runs,
trim_messages,
)
from langchain_core.tools import BaseTool, tool
from langchain_core.tools import BaseTool, StructuredTool, tool
@pytest.mark.parametrize("msg_cls", [HumanMessage, AIMessage, SystemMessage])
@@ -2961,6 +2961,33 @@ def test_count_tokens_approximately_with_tools() -> None:
assert count_empty_tools == base_count
def test_count_tokens_approximately_basetool_dict_args_schema() -> None:
"""`BaseTool.tool_call_schema` can itself already be a plain dict.
This happens when `args_schema` is given as a raw JSON schema instead of
a Pydantic model class -- there's no model class to call
`model_json_schema()` on in that case.
"""
schema_dict = {
"title": "GetWeatherInput",
"type": "object",
"properties": {"location": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["location"],
}
weather_tool = StructuredTool.from_function(
func=lambda location: f"Weather in {location}",
name="get_weather",
description="Get the weather for a location.",
args_schema=schema_dict,
)
assert isinstance(weather_tool.tool_call_schema, dict)
messages = [HumanMessage(content="Hello")]
base_count = count_tokens_approximately(messages)
count_with_tool = count_tokens_approximately(messages, tools=[weather_tool])
assert count_with_tool > base_count
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# `Serializable` constructor-envelope wire-shape acceptance in `_convert_to_message`
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------