diff --git a/scripts/doc-lengths.sh b/scripts/doc-lengths.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..04fa23382
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/doc-lengths.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Lists the docs pages and paragraphs that are too long, worst first.
+#
+# Pages have no size limit, so the worst offenders can't be found by eye.
+# This prints every markdown file under the given directory (default `docs`)
+# over a line limit, then every paragraph over a word limit, each sorted by
+# size. It is a report, not a gate: it exits 0 and is not in CI. Enforcement
+# comes once the list is worked down.
+#
+#   scripts/doc-lengths.sh [-l LINES] [-w WORDS] [DIR]
+#
+# Defaults: 400 lines per page, 100 words per paragraph.
+#
+# A paragraph is a run of prose lines ended by a blank line, a heading, a table
+# row, a code fence or the next list item; a list item with its continuation
+# lines counts as one. Fenced code, tables, headings and HTML lines are not
+# paragraphs.
+set -eu
+
+lines=400
+words=100
+while getopts l:w: opt; do
+  case $opt in
+    l) lines=$OPTARG ;;
+    w) words=$OPTARG ;;
+    *) echo "usage: $0 [-l LINES] [-w WORDS] [DIR]" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+shift $((OPTIND - 1))
+dir=${1:-docs}
+[ -d "$dir" ] || { echo "$0: no such directory: $dir" >&2; exit 2; }
+
+find "$dir" -name '*.md' -type f | sort | xargs awk -v maxlines="$lines" -v maxwords="$words" '
+function flush() {
+  if (nwords > maxwords) {
+    text = substr(first, 1, 60)
+    para[np++] = sprintf("%6d  %s:%d  %s", nwords, para_file, para_line, text)
+  }
+  nwords = 0
+  first = ""
+}
+FNR == 1 {
+  flush()
+  if (prev_file != "" && prev_lines > maxlines)
+    page[npg++] = sprintf("%6d  %s", prev_lines, prev_file)
+  prev_file = FILENAME
+  fence = 0
+  para_file = FILENAME
+}
+{ prev_lines = FNR }
+/^[ \t]*(```|~~~)/ { flush(); fence = !fence; next }
+fence { next }
+/^[ \t]*$/ { flush(); next }
+/^[ \t]*#+[ \t]/ { flush(); next }
+/^[ \t]*\|/ { flush(); next }
+/^[ \t]*</ { flush(); next }
+{
+  if ($0 ~ /^[ \t]*([-*+]|[0-9]+[.)])[ \t]+/) flush()
+  if (nwords == 0) { para_line = FNR; para_file = FILENAME; first = $0; sub(/^[ \t]*([-*+]|[0-9]+[.)])[ \t]+/, "", first) }
+  nwords += NF
+}
+END {
+  flush()
+  if (prev_lines > maxlines) page[npg++] = sprintf("%6d  %s", prev_lines, prev_file)
+  printf "Pages over %d lines:\n", maxlines
+  for (i = 0; i < npg; i++) print page[i] | "sort -rn"
+  close("sort -rn")
+  printf "\nParagraphs over %d words:\n", maxwords
+  for (i = 0; i < np; i++) print para[i] | "sort -rn"
+  close("sort -rn")
+}'