litellm - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: token_counter crashes with ValueError when image_url value is None [1 pull requests]

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Error Message

ValueError: Error getting number of tokens from content list: Invalid image_url type: NoneType. Expected str or dict with 'url' field., default_token_count=None

Fix Action

Fixed

Code Example

ValueError: Error getting number of tokens from content list:
  Invalid image_url type: NoneType. Expected str or dict with 'url' field.,
  default_token_count=None
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  • I have searched the existing issues and checked that my issue is not a duplicate.

What happened?

token_counter() raises a ValueError when a message content block contains {"type": "image_url", "image_url": None}.

Expected behavior: should return a default token count instead of crashing, since None is a valid edge case that can occur when image_url is optional or not yet populated.

I have a fix ready and will submit a PR immediately after filing this issue.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install litellm: pip install litellm

  2. Run the following Python script:

import litellm

result = litellm.token_counter( model="gpt-4-vision-preview", messages=[{ "role": "user", "content": [ {"type": "text", "text": "hello"}, {"type": "image_url", "image_url": None}, ], }] )

  1. Observe the ValueError is raised instead of returning a token count

Relevant log output

ValueError: Error getting number of tokens from content list:
  Invalid image_url type: NoneType. Expected str or dict with 'url' field.,
  default_token_count=None

What part of LiteLLM is this about?

SDK (litellm Python package)

What LiteLLM version are you on ?

v1.86.0

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litellm - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: token_counter crashes with ValueError when image_url value is None [1 pull requests]