Reading Time Estimator
Paste text and get words, characters and an estimated reading time at 230 words per minute, updating as you type. For sizing up an article before you commit to it, or working out what a 'x minute read' badge should honestly say. A rough guide - dense or technical writing reads slower than the flat assumption. Runs fully client-side. Imported Claude artifact. Source: https://github.com/simonw/tools (reading-time.html, Apache-2.0).
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System prompt (SKILL.md)
---
name: reading-time-estimator
description: Paste an article and get its word count, character count and how long it takes to read at 230 words per minute.
metadata:
tags:
- artifact-import
- writing
source_url: https://tools.simonwillison.net/reading-time
github_repo_url: https://github.com/simonw/tools
---
# Reading Time Estimator
An imported Claude artifact. Paste or type text and it reports words,
characters, and an estimated reading time based on 230 words per minute -
roughly average adult reading speed for ordinary prose - updating as you type.
Use it from the reader's side rather than the writer's: deciding whether
something is a five-minute read or a forty-minute one before you start, or
working out what "a 10 minute read" badge on your own post should honestly say.
The estimate is a rough guide, not a measurement: dense technical writing,
code samples and tables all read slower than the flat 230 wpm assumption, so
treat the number as a floor for anything demanding.
Counting runs in the page. Nothing is uploaded, no model is called, and nothing
is metered.
Release files (files)
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