# Counting Words

> Counts words, sentences, and reading time for Markdown files, excluding code blocks and frontmatter. Use when checking an article against a length budget.

- Skill: `brokenrobot-xyz/counting-words` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add brokenrobot-xyz/counting-words`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/brokenrobot-xyz/counting-words/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: brokenrobot-xyz (https://skillmd.com/u/brokenrobot-xyz)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/brokenrobot-xyz/counting-words

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# Count words

Report the word count, sentence count, and reading time for each named file.

## Steps

1. Read each file; drop the frontmatter and every fenced code block, because tokens in code
   inflate the count without adding reading time.
2. Count words and sentences with `wc` and compute reading time at 220 words per minute.
3. Report one row per file. When a file is empty, report zeros rather than skipping the row.