diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/home3/+page.svelte b/frontend/src/routes/home3/+page.svelte
index a41bb74..5850bcd 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/home3/+page.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/home3/+page.svelte
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@
   // truncation handled by CSS (-webkit-line-clamp:2) — breaks on whole words, fills 2 full lines
   let headline = $derived(news?.title ?? 'What went right this week: the good news that actually matters');
 
-  // Honest read-time from our own gist (~200 wpm, floor 1). We summarize, so this is
-  // usually "1 min read" — a feature, not a bug: the good news in about a minute.
-  const readMins = (t) => Math.max(1, Math.round((t || '').trim().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean).length / 200));
-  let readTime = $derived(`${readMins(news?.summary)} min read`);
+  // The badge shows how long the FULL source article takes — the contrast that sells
+  // the gist ("the calm 1-min version here; ~10 min if you want the deep dive"). Computed
+  // server-side from the source word count; hidden entirely when we couldn't measure it.
+  let fullRead = $derived(news?.source_read_minutes ? `Full story · ~${news.source_read_minutes} min` : '');
 
   // small-joys shelf: 3 cells shown two at a time, rotated by the reader (no auto-motion)
   const JOY_ACCENTS = ['#4f7da8', '#b06a86', '#b06a45'];
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@
           <p class="summary">{news?.summary || "We read the week so you don't have to doomscroll it. Five quietly hopeful stories, summarised to the gist."}</p>
         </a>
         <div class="news-foot">
-          <span class="meta">{readTime}</span>
+          {#if fullRead}<span class="meta">{fullRead}</span>{/if}
         </div>
         <hr class="news-div" />
         <a class="news-more" href="/">Read more good news →</a>
diff --git a/goodnews/api.py b/goodnews/api.py
index 7833efb..b0fc1a9 100644
--- a/goodnews/api.py
+++ b/goodnews/api.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ from fastapi.responses import FileResponse, HTMLResponse, RedirectResponse
 from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
-from . import art, auth, bloom, daily, email_send, feeds, games, oauth_google, onthisday, publishing, queries, quote, share, sources, summarize, wotd
+from . import art, auth, bloom, daily, email_send, feeds, games, oauth_google, onthisday, publishing, queries, quote, readtime, share, sources, summarize, wotd
 from .localtime import local_today
 from .markup import reply_html_to_text, sanitize_reply_html
 from .db import connect
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ class Article(BaseModel):
     paywalled: bool = False
     tags: list[str] = []
     summary: str | None = None  # our own cached summary (present on the brief)
+    source_read_minutes: int | None = None  # ~minutes to read the FULL source article (null = unknown)
     # Subject geography (present on feed rows; absent/empty on the brief). breadth is
     # locality|regional|national|multinational|global|unknown; places are ISO codes.
     geo_breadth: str | None = None
@@ -345,6 +346,7 @@ class Article(BaseModel):
             geo_confidence=row.get("geo_confidence"),
             geo_places=places,
             summary=row.get("summary"),
+            source_read_minutes=readtime.source_read_minutes(row.get("source_words")),
             id=row["id"],
             title=row["title"],
             description=row.get("description"),
diff --git a/goodnews/cli.py b/goodnews/cli.py
index 6df997e..41c8972 100644
--- a/goodnews/cli.py
+++ b/goodnews/cli.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from .localtime import local_today
 from .dedup import DEFAULT_THRESHOLD, DEFAULT_WINDOW_DAYS, cluster_duplicates, dedup as run_dedup
 from .geo import tag_articles as tag_geo
 from . import art, onthisday, quote, wotd
-from .enrich import enrich_brief_images, enrich_recent_images, enrich_summarized_images
+from .enrich import enrich_brief_images, enrich_read_times, enrich_recent_images, enrich_summarized_images
 from .summarize import generate_summary, get_summary
 from .feeds import (
     fetch_feed,
@@ -599,6 +599,15 @@ def _run_cycle_locked(conn: sqlite3.Connection, args: argparse.Namespace) -> Non
         except Exception as exc:
             print(f"recent images: skipped ({exc})")
 
+        # Full-article read-times: count words for recent accepted articles so the
+        # front door can show "Full story · ~N min" next to our gist (bounded per cycle).
+        try:
+            reads = enrich_read_times(conn)
+            if reads:
+                print(f"read-times: {reads} counted")
+        except Exception as exc:
+            print(f"read-times: skipped ({exc})")
+
         # Pre-warm summaries for today's brief so Today reads as a calm briefing.
         # Idempotent: cached items are skipped, so this only hits the LLM for new ones.
         try:
diff --git a/goodnews/db.py b/goodnews/db.py
index ff1e6c7..121cea2 100644
--- a/goodnews/db.py
+++ b/goodnews/db.py
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS articles (
     title_hash TEXT,
     duplicate_of INTEGER REFERENCES articles(id) ON DELETE SET NULL,
     image_checked_at TEXT,
+    source_words INTEGER,          -- full-article word count (metadata only; never the body)
+    read_checked_at TEXT,          -- when we last tried to count words (retry guard)
     FOREIGN KEY (source_id) REFERENCES sources(id)
 );
 
@@ -595,6 +597,10 @@ def _migrate(conn: sqlite3.Connection) -> None:
         )
     if "image_checked_at" not in article_cols:
         conn.execute("ALTER TABLE articles ADD COLUMN image_checked_at TEXT")
+    if "source_words" not in article_cols:        # full-article read-time (count only, no body)
+        conn.execute("ALTER TABLE articles ADD COLUMN source_words INTEGER")
+    if "read_checked_at" not in article_cols:
+        conn.execute("ALTER TABLE articles ADD COLUMN read_checked_at TEXT")
     # Created here (not in SCHEMA) so it runs after the column exists on upgrades.
     conn.execute("CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_articles_duplicate_of ON articles(duplicate_of)")
 
diff --git a/goodnews/enrich.py b/goodnews/enrich.py
index 0cd7a66..5918d31 100644
--- a/goodnews/enrich.py
+++ b/goodnews/enrich.py
@@ -174,6 +174,47 @@ def fetch_og_image(url: str | None) -> str | None:
     return None  # too many redirects
 
 
+# Word counting reads more of the body than image metadata (which only needs <head>).
+_READ_MAX_BYTES = 900_000
+
+
+def fetch_source_words(url: str | None) -> int | None:
+    """Fetch a page and return its full-article word count (furniture stripped), or
+    None on any failure or a too-thin extraction (JS/video/paywall pages). Same SSRF
+    safety as fetch_og_image; we read the count only, never store the body."""
+    from .readtime import source_read_minutes, word_count_from_html
+    opener = urllib.request.build_opener(_NoRedirect)
+    for _ in range(MAX_REDIRECTS + 1):
+        if not url:
+            return None
+        parts = urlsplit(url)
+        if parts.scheme not in ("http", "https") or not _host_is_public(parts.hostname):
+            return None
+        request = urllib.request.Request(url, headers={"User-Agent": USER_AGENT, "Accept": "text/html"})
+        try:
+            response = opener.open(request, timeout=TIMEOUT)
+        except (urllib.error.URLError, OSError, ValueError):
+            return None
+        status = getattr(response, "status", 200) or 200
+        if status in (301, 302, 303, 307, 308):
+            location = response.headers.get("Location")
+            response.close()
+            if not location:
+                return None
+            url = urljoin(url, location)
+            continue
+        if "html" not in response.headers.get("Content-Type", "").lower():
+            response.close()
+            return None
+        try:
+            body = response.read(_READ_MAX_BYTES)
+        finally:
+            response.close()
+        words = word_count_from_html(body)
+        return words if source_read_minutes(words) is not None else None
+    return None  # too many redirects
+
+
 def _image_dimensions(data: bytes) -> "tuple[int, int] | None":
     """Best-effort (width, height) from an image file's header bytes — PNG, GIF,
     JPEG, WebP. Returns None for formats we can't cheaply measure (e.g. SVG)."""
@@ -411,3 +452,42 @@ def enrich_summarized_images(
         if enrich_article_image(conn, row["id"], fetch=fetch, retry_days=retry_days):
             found += 1
     return found
+
+
+def enrich_read_times(
+    conn: sqlite3.Connection, fetch=fetch_source_words, limit: int = 40, retry_days: int = 14
+) -> int:
+    """Give recent accepted articles a full-article word count, so the front door can
+    show "Full story · ~N min" next to our one-minute gist. Bounded per run (mirrors
+    the image enrichers); fetches each article once, retrying a failed/too-thin
+    extraction only after `retry_days`. Returns how many real counts were stored."""
+    rows = conn.execute(
+        """
+        SELECT a.id, a.canonical_url FROM articles a
+        JOIN article_scores s ON s.article_id = a.id
+        WHERE s.accepted = 1 AND a.duplicate_of IS NULL
+          AND a.source_words IS NULL
+          AND (a.read_checked_at IS NULL OR a.read_checked_at < datetime('now', ?))
+        ORDER BY COALESCE(a.published_at, a.discovered_at) DESC
+        LIMIT ?
+        """,
+        (f"-{retry_days} days", limit),
+    ).fetchall()
+    found = 0
+    for row in rows:
+        try:
+            words = fetch(row["canonical_url"])
+        except Exception:
+            words = None
+        # Only ever write a REAL count; never overwrite a good value with null/zero.
+        # Always stamp the check time so failed/thin pages aren't re-fetched until retry.
+        if words:
+            conn.execute(
+                "UPDATE articles SET source_words = ?, read_checked_at = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP WHERE id = ?",
+                (words, row["id"]),
+            )
+            found += 1
+        else:
+            conn.execute("UPDATE articles SET read_checked_at = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP WHERE id = ?", (row["id"],))
+    conn.commit()
+    return found
diff --git a/goodnews/queries.py b/goodnews/queries.py
index 07650ba..4664b5c 100644
--- a/goodnews/queries.py
+++ b/goodnews/queries.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ _ARTICLE_COLUMNS = f"""
     s.reason_text,
     s.model_name,
     src.paywall_override AS paywall_override,
+    a.source_words,
     (SELECT group_concat(t.tag) FROM article_tags t WHERE t.article_id = a.id) AS tags,
     {RANK_SCORE_SQL} AS rank_score
 """
diff --git a/goodnews/readtime.py b/goodnews/readtime.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..157e0b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/goodnews/readtime.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+"""Estimate a SOURCE article's full read time from its fetched HTML.
+
+We never store the publisher's body — only a word COUNT (metadata) — to derive a
+"Full story · ~N min" hint that contrasts with our one-minute gist. That tiny
+detail sells the value: the calm summary now, the deep dive only if you want it.
+
+Extraction is deliberately light (no readability parser yet): drop the obvious
+non-article furniture (scripts, styles, nav, header, footer, forms, buttons,
+asides), strip tags, count words. ~225 wpm offsets the boilerplate that still
+slips through. Below a floor we assume failed/blocked extraction and return None
+so the UI shows NO badge rather than a misleading "1 min".
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+
+_WPM = 225
+_MIN_WORDS = 200          # below this → assume failed/too-thin extraction → no badge
+
+# Blocks whose CONTENT is furniture, removed wholesale before counting.
+_FURNITURE = re.compile(
+    rb"<(script|style|noscript|template|svg|nav|header|footer|form|button|aside|select|option)\b[^>]*>.*?</\1>",
+    re.IGNORECASE | re.DOTALL,
+)
+_TAGS = re.compile(rb"<[^>]+>")
+_WS = re.compile(r"\s+")
+
+
+def word_count_from_html(raw: bytes | None) -> int:
+    """Rough article word count from raw HTML bytes, furniture stripped."""
+    if not raw:
+        return 0
+    cleaned = _FURNITURE.sub(b" ", raw)
+    text = _TAGS.sub(b" ", cleaned).decode("utf-8", "replace")
+    return len(_WS.sub(" ", text).split())
+
+
+def source_read_minutes(words: int | None) -> int | None:
+    """Whole-minute estimate for the FULL article, or None when the count looks
+    failed/too thin (so callers omit the badge instead of showing a wrong number)."""
+    if not words or words < _MIN_WORDS:
+        return None
+    return max(2, round(words / _WPM))
diff --git a/tests/test_readtime.py b/tests/test_readtime.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f955ba4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_readtime.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+"""Full-article read-time: word counting strips furniture, threshold/None handling,
+and the bounded enrich pass is idempotent + never overwrites a good count with zero."""
+import pytest
+
+from goodnews import readtime
+from goodnews.db import connect, init_db
+from goodnews.enrich import enrich_read_times
+
+
+def test_word_count_strips_furniture():
+    html = (b"<html><head><style>.x{color:red}</style></head><body>"
+            b"<nav>Home About Contact Subscribe Login Search Menu</nav>"
+            b"<header>Site Name Sections Newsletter</header>"
+            b"<article><p>" + b"word " * 300 + b"</p></article>"
+            b"<footer>Copyright cookie consent terms privacy policy</footer>"
+            b"<script>var a = 1; trackEverything(); analytics();</script></body></html>")
+    n = readtime.word_count_from_html(html)
+    # ~300 article words; nav/header/footer/script/style excluded → only a small overcount
+    assert 300 <= n <= 320
+
+
+def test_read_minutes_threshold_and_rounding():
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(None) is None
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(0) is None
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(150) is None       # below the 200-word floor
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(220) == 2          # clamped to a 2-min minimum
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(450) == 2          # 450/225 = 2
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(2250) == 10
+
+
+def test_word_count_empty_or_none():
+    assert readtime.word_count_from_html(None) == 0
+    assert readtime.word_count_from_html(b"") == 0
+    assert readtime.source_read_minutes(readtime.word_count_from_html(b"<html></html>")) is None
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def conn(tmp_path):
+    c = connect(str(tmp_path / "t.sqlite3")); init_db(c)
+    c.execute("INSERT INTO sources (id, name, feed_url) VALUES (1, 'S', 'http://s/f')")
+    for i in (1, 2):
+        c.execute("INSERT INTO articles (id, source_id, canonical_url, title, url_hash) VALUES (?,1,?,?,?)",
+                  (i, f"https://ex.com/{i}", f"T{i}", f"h{i}"))
+        c.execute("INSERT INTO article_scores (article_id, accepted) VALUES (?, 1)", (i,))
+    c.commit()
+    yield c
+    c.close()
+
+
+def test_enrich_stores_then_skips_already_counted(conn):
+    calls = []
+    def fake(url):
+        calls.append(url)
+        return 900                                          # ~4 min
+    assert enrich_read_times(conn, fetch=fake) == 2
+    assert conn.execute("SELECT source_words FROM articles WHERE id=1").fetchone()[0] == 900
+    calls.clear()
+    assert enrich_read_times(conn, fetch=fake) == 0         # both counted → re-fetches nothing
+    assert calls == []
+
+
+def test_enrich_failure_stamps_but_never_overwrites(conn):
+    enrich_read_times(conn, fetch=lambda u: 600)            # both get a good count
+    assert conn.execute("SELECT source_words FROM articles WHERE id=1").fetchone()[0] == 600
+    # a fresh article whose extraction fails: stamped (so we don't hammer it), left null
+    conn.execute("INSERT INTO articles (id, source_id, canonical_url, title, url_hash) "
+                 "VALUES (3, 1, 'https://ex.com/3', 'T3', 'h3')")
+    conn.execute("INSERT INTO article_scores (article_id, accepted) VALUES (3, 1)")
+    conn.commit()
+    assert enrich_read_times(conn, fetch=lambda u: None) == 0
+    row = conn.execute("SELECT source_words, read_checked_at FROM articles WHERE id=3").fetchone()
+    assert row[0] is None and row[1] is not None
+    # the good counts are untouched by a later failing pass
+    assert conn.execute("SELECT source_words FROM articles WHERE id=1").fetchone()[0] == 600
+
+
+def test_api_exposes_source_read_minutes_only_when_known():
+    from goodnews.api import Article
+    base = {"id": 1, "title": "T", "canonical_url": "https://ex.com/a", "source_name": "S", "accepted": 1}
+    assert Article.from_row({**base, "source_words": 2000}).source_read_minutes == 9
+    assert Article.from_row({**base, "source_words": 120}).source_read_minutes is None   # too thin
+    assert Article.from_row({**base}).source_read_minutes is None                         # absent → null