diff --git a/app/composables/useReadingTime.ts b/app/composables/useReadingTime.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e67943d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/composables/useReadingTime.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/**
+ * Fallback reading-time helper when `article.minutes` is not available
+ * (e.g., dev hot-reload before the Nitro hook has re-parsed).
+ *
+ * Source of truth = server/plugins/reading-time.ts + content.config.ts schema.
+ * This is only a client-side safety net (per D-19).
+ *
+ * @param wordCountOrText number (word count already computed) OR string (raw text to tokenize)
+ * @returns minutes (>= 1), rounded up, using 200 words per minute
+ */
+export function useReadingTime(wordCountOrText: number | string): number {
+  if (typeof wordCountOrText === 'number') {
+    return Math.max(1, Math.ceil(wordCountOrText / 200))
+  }
+  const count = wordCountOrText.trim().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean).length
+  return Math.max(1, Math.ceil(count / 200))
+}