diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b3ed778..9759570 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- CLI `--tokenizer` option to use a local module's `count(text)` function for
+  analysis and compaction without adding runtime dependencies.
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - Invalid or negative numeric CLI flags now fail clearly instead of producing
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 64aaf74..368c390 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -91,6 +91,39 @@ be an integer; invalid values throw a `RangeError` before the payload changes.
 
 Token counts are a fast **estimate** (a chars/word blend), typically within ~10-15% of exact BPE counts, enough to find waste and compare before/after. For exact counts, pass your own counter: `analyzePayload(payload, { counter: myTokenizer })`.
 
+### Use a tokenizer from the CLI
+
+`--tokenizer <module>` loads a local JavaScript module exporting a synchronous
+`count(text)` function that returns a numeric token count. Relative paths resolve
+from your current working directory, not from the payload file. The same counter
+is used for analysis and compaction; without the flag, the built-in estimate is
+unchanged. Only load modules you trust, since they execute in the CLI process.
+
+For example, install [gpt-tokenizer](https://github.com/niieani/gpt-tokenizer) in
+your own project (it is not a tokencut dependency):
+
+```bash
+npm install gpt-tokenizer
+```
+
+Save this as `my-counter.mjs` beside that project's `package.json`:
+
+```js
+import { encode } from "gpt-tokenizer";
+export function count(text) {
+  return encode(text).length;
+}
+```
+
+```bash
+tokencut payload.json --tokenizer ./my-counter.mjs --json
+tokencut payload.json --compact --max 8000 --tokenizer ./my-counter.mjs
+```
+
+Choose an encoding appropriate for your model. This replaces text-unit counts;
+it does not add provider-specific message framing or replace image-token
+estimates, and compaction still preserves protected messages.
+
 ## CLI reference
 
 ```
@@ -101,6 +134,7 @@ tokencut <payload.json> --compact    cut, print savings
   --no-dedupe      keep duplicate blocks
   --out <file>     write the compacted payload
   --price <n>      $ per 1M input tokens for the estimate (default 3)
+  --tokenizer <module>  load a local module exporting count(text) -> number
   --json           machine-readable output
 ```
 
diff --git a/bin/tokencut.mjs b/bin/tokencut.mjs
index 37a14f1..34c2cfa 100644
--- a/bin/tokencut.mjs
+++ b/bin/tokencut.mjs
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { resolve } from "node:path";
+import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import { analyzePayload, compact } from "../src/index.mjs";
 
 const args = process.argv.slice(2);
 // Value-taking flags: when one is seen, the next argv entry is its value, not a file path.
-const VALUE_FLAGS = new Set(["--max", "--max-tool", "--price", "--out"]);
+const VALUE_FLAGS = new Set(["--max", "--max-tool", "--price", "--out", "--tokenizer"]);
 const options = {};
 const positionals = [];
 for (let i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ if (!file || has("--help")) {
     --no-dedupe      keep duplicate context blocks
     --out <file>     write the compacted payload
     --price <n>      $ per 1M input tokens for the cost estimate (default 3)
+    --tokenizer <module>  load a local module exporting count(text) -> number
     --json           machine-readable output
     --version, -V    print package version
 
@@ -70,6 +73,25 @@ let payload;
 try { payload = JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, "utf8")); }
 catch (e) { console.error(`could not read ${file}: ${e.message}`); process.exit(1); }
 
+let counter;
+if (has("--tokenizer")) {
+  const modulePath = flag("--tokenizer");
+  if (typeof modulePath !== "string") {
+    console.error("--tokenizer requires a module path");
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+  try {
+    const tokenizer = await import(pathToFileURL(resolve(modulePath)).href);
+    if (typeof tokenizer.count !== "function") {
+      throw new TypeError("module must export a count(text) function");
+    }
+    counter = tokenizer.count;
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error(`could not load tokenizer ${modulePath}: ${e.message}`);
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+}
+
 const k = (n) => (n >= 1000 ? (n / 1000).toFixed(1).replace(/\.0$/, "") + "k" : "" + n);
 const usd = (n) => "$" + n.toFixed(n < 0.01 ? 5 : 4);
 
@@ -78,6 +100,7 @@ if (has("--compact")) {
     maxTokens,
     maxToolResultTokens,
     dropDuplicates: !has("--no-dedupe"),
+    counter,
   });
   if (flag("--out", null)) {
     const outPath = String(flag("--out", null));
@@ -99,7 +122,7 @@ if (has("--compact")) {
   if (flag("--out", null)) console.log(`  wrote    ${flag("--out", null)}`);
   console.log();
 } else {
-  const a = analyzePayload(payload, { pricePerMTok: price });
+  const a = analyzePayload(payload, { pricePerMTok: price, counter });
   if (has("--json")) { console.log(JSON.stringify(a, null, 2)); process.exit(0); }
   console.log(`\n  tokencut  ${k(a.totalTokens)} tokens  (~${usd(a.costUSD)} at $${price}/M)  across ${a.units} blocks\n`);
   const row = (label, obj) => {
diff --git a/test/cli.test.mjs b/test/cli.test.mjs
index ebf4f97..9cca653 100644
--- a/test/cli.test.mjs
+++ b/test/cli.test.mjs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import test, { after } from "node:test";
 
 const fixtureDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "tokencut-cli-"));
@@ -79,3 +80,72 @@ test("rejects compact budget flags without --compact", async (t) => {
     });
   }
 });
+
+const tokenizer = join(fixtureDir, "counter #1.mjs");
+writeFileSync(tokenizer, "export const count = (text) => text.length;\n");
+
+test("analyze keeps the built-in estimate when no tokenizer is supplied", () => {
+  const result = run("--json");
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+  assert.equal(JSON.parse(result.stdout).totalTokens, 2);
+});
+
+test("analyze uses a tokenizer module, including spaces and URL-special characters", () => {
+  const result = run("--tokenizer", tokenizer, "--json");
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+  const report = JSON.parse(result.stdout);
+  assert.equal(report.totalTokens, 5);
+  assert.equal(report.biggest[0].tokens, 5);
+});
+
+test("resolves a relative tokenizer from the caller's directory before the payload", () => {
+  const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [
+    fileURLToPath(new URL("../bin/tokencut.mjs", import.meta.url)),
+    "--tokenizer", "./counter #1.mjs", fixture, "--json",
+  ], { cwd: fixtureDir, encoding: "utf8" });
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+  assert.equal(JSON.parse(result.stdout).totalTokens, 5);
+});
+
+test("compact uses the tokenizer for its budget and before/after report", () => {
+  const payload = join(fixtureDir, "history.json");
+  const output = join(fixtureDir, "compacted.json");
+  const messages = Array.from({ length: 6 }, (_, i) => ({ role: "user", content: `hello-${i}` }));
+  writeFileSync(payload, JSON.stringify(messages));
+  const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [
+    "bin/tokencut.mjs", payload, "--tokenizer", tokenizer,
+    "--compact", "--max", "28", "--out", output, "--json",
+  ], { cwd: new URL("..", import.meta.url), encoding: "utf8" });
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+  const report = JSON.parse(result.stdout);
+  assert.equal(report.beforeTokens, 42);
+  assert.equal(report.afterTokens, 28);
+  assert.equal(report.savedTokens, 14);
+  assert.deepEqual(JSON.parse(readFileSync(output, "utf8")), messages.slice(-4));
+});
+
+test("rejects a missing tokenizer argument without a stack trace", () => {
+  const result = run("--tokenizer", "--json");
+  assert.equal(result.status, 1);
+  assert.equal(result.stdout, "");
+  assert.equal(result.stderr, "--tokenizer requires a module path\n");
+});
+
+test("reports tokenizer import and export errors without a stack trace", async (t) => {
+  for (const [name, source, expected] of [
+    ["missing.mjs", null, /could not load tokenizer/],
+    ["no-count.mjs", "export default () => 1;", /must export a count\(text\) function/],
+    ["not-callable.mjs", "export const count = 1;", /must export a count\(text\) function/],
+    ["broken.mjs", 'throw new Error("broken module");', /broken module/],
+  ]) {
+    await t.test(name, () => {
+      const path = join(fixtureDir, name);
+      if (source !== null) writeFileSync(path, source);
+      const result = run("--tokenizer", path, "--json");
+      assert.equal(result.status, 1);
+      assert.equal(result.stdout, "");
+      assert.match(result.stderr, expected);
+      assert.doesNotMatch(result.stderr, /\n\s+at /);
+    });
+  }
+});