diff --git a/app/d/[slug]/CommentsShell.tsx b/app/d/[slug]/CommentsShell.tsx
index 56dde5f..0001521 100644
--- a/app/d/[slug]/CommentsShell.tsx
+++ b/app/d/[slug]/CommentsShell.tsx
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ type Props = {
   // Ordered heading list + stable fragment ids for section deeplinks (from
   // lib/docs/sections extractSections). Forwarded to the overlay as jh:sections.
   initialSections: Section[];
+  // Estimated minutes to read the doc (lib/docs/reading-time). 0 = no prose to
+  // read, and the bar leaves the slot out entirely.
+  readMinutes: number;
   version: number;
   // Coarse SSR theme (from the stored HTML's unconditional html/body bg). Present
   // only when the server is confident the doc is dark — gives the shell a dark
@@ -167,6 +170,7 @@ export default function CommentsShell(props: Props) {
     docId,
     me,
     initialSections,
+    readMinutes,
   } = props;
   const [bookmarked, setBookmarked] = useState(props.bookmarked);
   const bookmarkPending = useRef(false);
@@ -924,6 +928,11 @@ export default function CommentsShell(props: Props) {
           {title}
         </span>
         <span style={{ flexShrink: 0, paddingLeft: "1.25rem", display: "flex", gap: "1.25rem", alignItems: "center", color: "var(--jh-bar-muted, #666)" }}>
+          {readMinutes > 0 ? (
+            <span className="jh-readtime" title={`Estimated read time: ${readMinutes} minute${readMinutes === 1 ? "" : "s"}`}>
+              {readMinutes} min read
+            </span>
+          ) : null}
           <ThemeToggle mode={mode} onChange={chooseMode} />
           {signedIn ? (
             <button
@@ -1713,6 +1722,8 @@ const RAIL_CSS = `
   .jh-stage[data-rail="open"] .jh-rail { transform: translateX(0); }
   .jh-railclose { display: inline-block; }
   .jh-scrim { display: block; }
+  /* The bar is already tight at this width; the read time is the first thing to go. */
+  .jh-readtime { display: none; }
 }
 `;
 
diff --git a/app/d/[slug]/page.tsx b/app/d/[slug]/page.tsx
index 8cdaf8f..d568817 100644
--- a/app/d/[slug]/page.tsx
+++ b/app/d/[slug]/page.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 } from "@/lib/docs/comments";
 import { detectServerTheme } from "@/lib/docs/theme";
 import { extractSections } from "@/lib/docs/sections";
+import { estimateReadMinutes } from "@/lib/docs/reading-time";
 import CommentsShell from "./CommentsShell";
 
 export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
@@ -109,6 +110,10 @@ export default async function ViewerPage({ params, searchParams }: Props) {
   // ids to headings in document order and paints the gutter link icon.
   const sections = extractSections(doc.html);
 
+  // Estimated read time for the bar — derived from the stored HTML, like the
+  // section list. 0 for a doc with no prose (the bar omits it).
+  const readMinutes = estimateReadMinutes(doc.html);
+
   // Adaptive chrome (variant D): coarsely detect a DARK doc from the stored
   // HTML's unconditional html/body background so the shell renders themed at SSR —
   // CommentsShell uses it as the initial theme to avoid a light→dark flash before the
@@ -138,6 +143,7 @@ export default async function ViewerPage({ params, searchParams }: Props) {
       initialDocReactions={docReactions}
       initialAnchoredReactions={anchoredReactions}
       initialSections={sections}
+      readMinutes={readMinutes}
       version={doc.version}
       initialTheme={serverTheme}
     />
diff --git a/lib/docs/reading-time.test.ts b/lib/docs/reading-time.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d98b9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/docs/reading-time.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { estimateReadMinutes } from "@/lib/docs/reading-time";
+
+const words = (n: number) => Array.from({ length: n }, (_, i) => `w${i}`).join(" ");
+
+describe("estimateReadMinutes", () => {
+  it("counts visible words at 200 wpm, rounding up", () => {
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(`<p>${words(200)}</p>`)).toBe(1);
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(`<p>${words(201)}</p>`)).toBe(2);
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(`<p>${words(1000)}</p>`)).toBe(5);
+  });
+
+  it("never rounds a doc with prose down to zero", () => {
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes("<p>hello there</p>")).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  it("returns 0 when there is nothing to read", () => {
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes("")).toBe(0);
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes('<img src="x.png"><hr><p>— • —</p>')).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it("ignores markup, comments, and non-prose blocks", () => {
+    const html = `
+      <!-- ${words(500)} -->
+      <style>body { color: red }</style>
+      <script>const x = "${words(500)}";</script>
+      <svg viewBox="0 0 4 4"><path d="M1 1 L2 2 L3 3 L4 4 Z"/></svg>
+      <p class="${words(500)}">${words(200)}</p>`;
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(html)).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  it("decodes entities rather than counting them as words", () => {
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes("<p>Tom &amp; Jerry</p>")).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  it("counts CJK characters individually (no spaces to tokenize on)", () => {
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(`<p>${"字".repeat(500)}</p>`)).toBe(1);
+    expect(estimateReadMinutes(`<p>${"字".repeat(2000)}</p>`)).toBe(4);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/lib/docs/reading-time.ts b/lib/docs/reading-time.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9196a79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/docs/reading-time.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Estimated read time for the viewer chrome bar — a pure function of the stored
+// HTML, computed at SSR alongside extractSections. Nothing is stored and nothing
+// is recomputed client-side: an inline edit changes the estimate on the next load,
+// the same as the title and the section list.
+
+import { htmlToText } from "@/lib/docs/anchor";
+
+// 200 wpm is the conventional prose estimate (Medium-style read times use the
+// same ballpark). Deliberately coarse — the bar says "~how long is this", not a
+// measurement.
+const WORDS_PER_MINUTE = 200;
+
+// CJK scripts are written without spaces, so whitespace tokens undercount them by
+// an order of magnitude. Count those characters individually instead, charged at a
+// per-character rate.
+const CJK_RE = /[\p{sc=Han}\p{sc=Hiragana}\p{sc=Katakana}\p{sc=Hangul}]/gu;
+const CJK_PER_MINUTE = 500;
+
+// A token counts as a word only if it carries a letter or a digit, so bullets,
+// rules and stray punctuation don't inflate the count.
+const WORDISH = /[\p{L}\p{N}]/u;
+
+/**
+ * Minutes to read the document, rounded up (so any prose at all is at least "1
+ * min read"). Returns 0 when there is no prose — an image-only or empty doc — and
+ * the bar then shows nothing rather than claiming a minute.
+ */
+export function estimateReadMinutes(html: string): number {
+  // Same masking as extractSections, plus <svg>: none of it is prose the reader
+  // works through, and an inlined icon set or chart is easily thousands of
+  // "words" of path data.
+  const masked = html
+    .replace(/<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g, "")
+    .replace(/<(script|style|template|noscript|svg)\b[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/\1>/gi, "");
+  const text = htmlToText(masked);
+  const cjk = (text.match(CJK_RE) ?? []).length;
+  const words = text
+    .replace(CJK_RE, " ")
+    .split(/\s+/)
+    .filter((t) => WORDISH.test(t)).length;
+  if (words === 0 && cjk === 0) return 0;
+  return Math.ceil(words / WORDS_PER_MINUTE + cjk / CJK_PER_MINUTE);
+}