diff --git a/mentat/code_edit_feedback.py b/mentat/code_edit_feedback.py
index 3557da9d4..07ebdd59b 100644
--- a/mentat/code_edit_feedback.py
+++ b/mentat/code_edit_feedback.py
@@ -61,11 +61,7 @@ async def get_user_feedback_on_edits(
             conversation.add_message(
                 ChatCompletionSystemMessageParam(
                     role="system",
-                    content=(
-                        "User chose not to apply any of your changes. Please adjust"
-                        " your previous plan and changes to reflect their feedback."
-                        " Respond with a full new set of changes."
-                    ),
+                    content="User chose not to apply any of your changes.",
                 )
             )
             conversation.add_user_message(user_response)
diff --git a/mentat/conversation.py b/mentat/conversation.py
index 6aab783c7..7940a6a2f 100644
--- a/mentat/conversation.py
+++ b/mentat/conversation.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 )
 
 from mentat.errors import MentatError
-from mentat.llm_api_handler import conversation_tokens, count_tokens, model_context_size
+from mentat.llm_api_handler import count_tokens, model_context_size, prompt_tokens
 from mentat.session_context import SESSION_CONTEXT
 from mentat.transcripts import ModelMessage, TranscriptMessage, UserMessage
 from mentat.utils import add_newline
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ async def display_token_count(self):
                 content=await code_context.get_code_message("", max_tokens=0),
             )
         ]
-        tokens = conversation_tokens(
+        tokens = prompt_tokens(
             messages,
             config.model,
         )
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ async def _stream_model_response(
 
         start_time = default_timer()
 
-        num_prompt_tokens = conversation_tokens(messages, config.model)
+        num_prompt_tokens = prompt_tokens(messages, config.model)
         context_size = model_context_size(config.model)
         if context_size:
             if num_prompt_tokens > context_size - config.token_buffer:
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ async def _stream_model_response(
             )
         response = await llm_api_handler.call_llm_api(
             messages,
-            config.model,
+            config.model
             stream=True,
             response_format=parser.response_format(),
         )
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ async def get_model_response(self) -> list[FileEdit]:
         messages_snapshot = self.get_messages()
 
         # Rebuild code context with active code and available tokens
-        tokens = conversation_tokens(messages_snapshot, config.model)
+        tokens = prompt_tokens(messages_snapshot, config.model)
 
         loading_multiplier = 1.0 if config.auto_context else 0.0
         try:
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ async def get_model_response(self) -> list[FileEdit]:
         cost_tracker.display_api_call_stats(
             num_prompt_tokens,
             count_tokens(
-                parsed_llm_response.full_response, config.model, full_message=True
+                parsed_llm_response.full_response, config.model, full_message=False
             ),
             config.model,
             time_elapsed,
diff --git a/mentat/embeddings.py b/mentat/embeddings.py
index bef812cfa..ae40b082a 100644
--- a/mentat/embeddings.py
+++ b/mentat/embeddings.py
@@ -128,7 +128,9 @@ async def get_feature_similarity_scores(
     num_prompt_tokens = 0
     if not database.exists(prompt_checksum):
         items_to_embed[prompt_checksum] = prompt
-        items_to_embed_tokens[prompt_checksum] = count_tokens(prompt, embedding_model)
+        items_to_embed_tokens[prompt_checksum] = count_tokens(
+            prompt, embedding_model, False
+        )
     for feature, checksum, token in zip(features, checksums, tokens):
         if token > max_model_tokens:
             continue
diff --git a/mentat/llm_api_handler.py b/mentat/llm_api_handler.py
index 4b6e49577..ab8bbde50 100644
--- a/mentat/llm_api_handler.py
+++ b/mentat/llm_api_handler.py
@@ -46,11 +46,12 @@ def chunk_to_lines(chunk: ChatCompletionChunk) -> list[str]:
     return ("" if content is None else content).splitlines(keepends=True)
 
 
-def count_tokens(message: str, model: str, full_message: bool = False) -> int:
+def count_tokens(message: str, model: str, full_message: bool) -> int:
     """
-    Calculates the tokens in this message. Will NOT be accurate for a full conversation!
-    Use conversation_tokens to get the exact amount of tokens in a conversation.
-    If full_message is true, will include the extra 4 tokens used in a chat completion by this message.
+    Calculates the tokens in this message. Will NOT be accurate for a full prompt!
+    Use prompt_tokens to get the exact amount of tokens for a prompt.
+    If full_message is true, will include the extra 4 tokens used in a chat completion by this message
+    if this message is part of a prompt. The majority of the time, you'll want full_message to be true.
     """
     try:
         encoding = tiktoken.encoding_for_model(model)
@@ -61,9 +62,9 @@ def count_tokens(message: str, model: str, full_message: bool = False) -> int:
     )
 
 
-def conversation_tokens(messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam], model: str):
+def prompt_tokens(messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam], model: str):
     """
-    Returns the number of tokens used by a full conversation.
+    Returns the number of tokens used by a prompt if it was sent to OpenAI for a chat completion.
     Adapted from https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/text-generation/managing-tokens
     """
     try:
@@ -73,7 +74,8 @@ def conversation_tokens(messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam], model: str):
 
     num_tokens = 0
     for message in messages:
-        # every message follows <im_start>{role/name}\n{content}<im_end>\n
+        # every message follows <|start|>{role/name}\n{content}<|end|>\n
+        # this has 5 tokens (start token, role, \n, end token, \n), but we count the role token later
         num_tokens += 4
         for key, value in message.items():
             if isinstance(value, list) and key == "content":
@@ -98,7 +100,7 @@ def conversation_tokens(messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam], model: str):
                 num_tokens += len(encoding.encode(value))
             if key == "name":  # if there's a name, the role is omitted
                 num_tokens -= 1  # role is always required and always 1 token
-    num_tokens += 2  # every reply is primed with <im_start>assistant
+    num_tokens += 2  # every reply is primed with <|start|>assistant
     return num_tokens
 
 
diff --git a/tests/llm_api_handler_test.py b/tests/llm_api_handler_test.py
index 6a2e34329..31fd1d691 100644
--- a/tests/llm_api_handler_test.py
+++ b/tests/llm_api_handler_test.py
@@ -3,17 +3,17 @@
 
 from PIL import Image
 
-from mentat.llm_api_handler import conversation_tokens
+from mentat.llm_api_handler import prompt_tokens
 
 
-def test_conversation_tokens():
+def test_prompt_tokens():
     messages = [
         {"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"},
         {"role": "assistant", "content": "Hi there! How can I help you today?"},
     ]
     model = "gpt-4-vision-preview"
 
-    assert conversation_tokens(messages, model) == 24
+    assert prompt_tokens(messages, model) == 24
 
     # An image that must be scaled twice and then fits in 6 512x512 panels
     img = Image.new("RGB", (768 * 4, 1050 * 4), color="red")
@@ -30,4 +30,4 @@ def test_conversation_tokens():
         }
     )
 
-    assert conversation_tokens(messages, model) == 24 + 6 * 170 + 85 + 5
+    assert prompt_tokens(messages, model) == 24 + 6 * 170 + 85 + 5