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Usage

LiteLLM returns the OpenAI compatible usage object across all providers.

"usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": int,
    "completion_tokens": int,
    "total_tokens": int
  }

Quick Start​

from litellm import completion
import os

## set ENV variables
os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = "your-api-key"

response = completion(
  model="gpt-3.5-turbo",
  messages=[{ "content": "Hello, how are you?","role": "user"}]
)

print(response.usage)

Note: LiteLLM supports endpoint bridging—if a model does not natively support a requested endpoint, LiteLLM will automatically route the call to the correct supported endpoint (such as bridging /chat/completions to /responses or vice versa) based on the model's modeset in model_prices_and_context_window.

Streaming Usage​

if stream_options={"include_usage": True} is set, an additional chunk will be streamed before the data: [DONE] message. The usage field on this chunk shows the token usage statistics for the entire request, and the choices field will always be an empty array. All other chunks will also include a usage field, but with a null value.

from litellm import completion 

completion = completion(
  model="gpt-4o",
  messages=[
    {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}
  ],
  stream=True,
  stream_options={"include_usage": True}
)

for chunk in completion:
  print(chunk.choices[0].delta)

Proxy: Always Include Streaming Usage​

When using the LiteLLM Proxy, you can configure it to automatically include usage information in all streaming responses, even if the client doesn't send stream_options={"include_usage": True}.

Configuration​

Add the following to your config.yaml:

general_settings:
  always_include_stream_usage: true

Alternatively, configure it through the UI:

  1. Navigate to the LiteLLM Proxy UI
  2. Go to Settings > Router Settings > General
  3. Find the always_include_stream_usage setting
  4. Toggle it to true
  5. Click Update to save

How it works​

When always_include_stream_usage is enabled:

  • All streaming requests will automatically have stream_options={"include_usage": True} added
  • Clients will receive usage information in the final chunk, even if they didn't explicitly request it
  • If a client already provides stream_options, include_usage: True will be added without overwriting other options
  • Non-streaming requests are not affected

Example​

With this setting enabled, a simple streaming request like:

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    "stream": true
  }'

Will automatically receive usage information in the response, without needing to explicitly include stream_options.