Reading Time Skill

Overview

Reading Time Calculator works by counting words in the text and dividing by the reading speed (words per minute). Default speed is 250 WPM, customizable from 50-1000 WPM. Maximum text length is 500KB.

Live Test Reading Time Skill Skill →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveKit server, this appears in its tool list as ReadingTimeSkill. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call

{
  "name": "ReadingTimeSkill",
  "arguments": {
    "text": "This is a sample article with multiple paragraphs. Reading time will be calculated based on word count."
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about This is a sample article with multiple paragraphs. Reading time will be calculated based on word count. in the terms this skill covers is enough for it to reach for ReadingTimeSkill on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every skill in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervekit": {
      "url": "https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Argument	Type	Description
`text`Required	string	The text to calculate reading time for length 0–500000
`wpm`Optional	integer	Words per minute reading speed default 250 · range 50–1000

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "text_length": 257,
    "word_count": 41,
    "reading_time_minutes": 1,
    "reading_time_seconds": 10,
    "reading_time_text": "1 min read",
    "words_per_minute": 250
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`text_length`	number	`257`	Length of the submitted text in characters, before whitespace is collapsed.
`word_count`	number	`41`	Total number of words in the text
`reading_time_minutes`	number	`1`	Estimated reading time in minutes
`reading_time_seconds`	number	`10`	Estimated reading time in seconds
`reading_time_text`	string	`1 min read`	Human-readable reading time, for example "< 1 min read", "5 min read" or "1h 20m read".
`words_per_minute`	number	`250`	Words per minute used for calculation

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This skill is not part of VerveKit. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Blog Publishing: Add reading time estimates to blog posts to help readers decide whether to read now or save for later
Content Management: Display reading time on articles and documentation to improve user experience and engagement
Email Campaigns: Calculate reading time for email newsletters to optimize content length and subject lines
Educational Content: Estimate time required for students to read course materials for better scheduling and planning