diff --git a/.github/workflows/_ci-gate.yml b/.github/workflows/_ci-gate.yml
index d745781..4f6870d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_ci-gate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_ci-gate.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 # Filter name convention (caller defines these in `filters:` input):
 #
 #   nix            -> gates `nix_validate`
-#   markdown       -> gates `markdown_lint` and `file_size`
+#   markdown       -> gates `markdown_lint`, `file_size`, and `token_limits`
 #   python         -> gates `python_security`
 #
 # Callers may include additional filters; this workflow ignores them. To add
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ on:
         description: Enable `File Size` (gated on `nix` OR `markdown` filter)
         type: boolean
         default: false
+      token_limits:
+        description: >-
+          Enable `Token Limits` (gated on `markdown` filter). Budgets AI-read
+          docs via tiktoken per .token-limits.yaml; pairs with `file_size`,
+          which skips token-gated files. No secret required.
+        type: boolean
+        default: false
       python_security:
         description: Enable `Python Security` (gated on `python` filter)
         type: boolean
@@ -167,6 +174,14 @@ jobs:
     with:
       runner_label: ${{ inputs.runner_label }}
 
+  token-limits:
+    name: Token Limits
+    needs: changes
+    if: ${{ inputs.token_limits && needs.changes.outputs.markdown == 'true' }}
+    uses: dryvist/.github/.github/workflows/_token-limits.yml@main
+    with:
+      runner_label: ${{ inputs.runner_label }}
+
   python-security:
     name: Python Security
     needs: changes
@@ -218,7 +233,7 @@ jobs:
   # ============================================================================
   gate:
     name: Merge Gate
-    needs: [changes, watchdog, nix-validate, markdown-lint, file-size, python-security]
+    needs: [changes, watchdog, nix-validate, markdown-lint, file-size, token-limits, python-security]
     if: ${{ always() && !cancelled() }}
     runs-on: ${{ inputs.runner_label }}
     steps:
@@ -227,5 +242,5 @@ jobs:
         with:
           # `watchdog` is always-success-on-completion; treating it as
           # allowed-skip lets `alls-green` ignore its result either way.
-          allowed-skips: nix-validate, markdown-lint, file-size, python-security, watchdog
+          allowed-skips: nix-validate, markdown-lint, file-size, token-limits, python-security, watchdog
           jobs: ${{ toJSON(needs) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_file-size.yml b/.github/workflows/_file-size.yml
index b901d62..a5239b1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_file-size.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_file-size.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@
 #   scan: [.md, .nix]                        # replaces default scan list
 #   extended: { limit: 32768, files: [AGENTS] }  # additive higher limit
 #   exempt: [RUNBOOK]                        # additive to default [CHANGELOG]
+#
+# Token partition: when a .token-limits.yaml is present, Markdown (.md) docs are
+# token-gated (governed by _token-limits.yml) and dropped from this byte gate's
+# scan, so every file is checked by exactly one gate. Repos without a
+# .token-limits.yaml are unaffected. (.token-limits.yaml should budget all .md —
+# e.g. a '*.md' catch-all — or exclude any it intentionally leaves ungated.)
 name: _file-size
 
 on:
@@ -70,6 +76,18 @@ jobs:
             [ -n "$cfg_exempt" ] && EXEMPT="$EXEMPT$cfg_exempt "
           fi
 
+          # When a token gate is active (.token-limits.yaml present), Markdown
+          # docs are governed by _token-limits.yml. Drop .md from this byte
+          # gate's scan so each file is checked by exactly one gate.
+          if [ -f ".token-limits.yaml" ]; then
+            new_scan=""
+            for ext in $DEFAULT_SCAN; do
+              [ "$ext" = ".md" ] && continue
+              new_scan="$new_scan $ext"
+            done
+            DEFAULT_SCAN="$new_scan"
+          fi
+
           # Build find name arguments from scan extensions
           name_args=(); first=true
           for ext in $DEFAULT_SCAN; do
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_token-limits.yml b/.github/workflows/_token-limits.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2da68fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/_token-limits.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# Reusable: Token Limit Check
+#
+# Token-budgets AI-read docs (the prose files an agent loads for background)
+# using the public, open-source `tiktoken` tokenizer — NO API key, NO secret.
+# Per-repo config in `.token-limits.yaml` (see scripts/check-token-limits.py).
+#
+# Pairs with `_file-size.yml`: a file is "token-gated" iff it matches a
+# `limits` pattern, and the byte gate skips token-gated files — so every file
+# is governed by exactly one gate. Repos with no `.token-limits.yaml` get a
+# no-op here and keep the byte gate's original behavior.
+name: _token-limits
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      runner_label:
+        description: >-
+          GitHub Actions runner label. Defaults to ubuntu-latest. Pass a
+          RunsOn label to opt the calling repo into self-hosted runners.
+        type: string
+        required: false
+        default: ubuntu-latest
+
+permissions: {}
+
+concurrency:
+  group: token-limits-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  check:
+    name: Check
+    runs-on: ${{ inputs.runner_label }}
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout caller repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Sparse-checkout the shared token-counter from this repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          repository: dryvist/.github
+          ref: main
+          path: .gh-shared
+          sparse-checkout: scripts/check-token-limits.py
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: false
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.x'
+
+      - name: Install tiktoken
+        run: pip install --quiet tiktoken pyyaml
+
+      - name: Check token limits
+        run: python3 .gh-shared/scripts/check-token-limits.py
diff --git a/scripts/check-token-limits.py b/scripts/check-token-limits.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af2291a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-token-limits.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Fail if a token-gated file exceeds its .token-limits.yaml budget.
+
+Counts with the public, offline tiktoken tokenizer (no API key). First matching
+`limits` glob wins (list specific patterns first); `exclude` globs are skipped.
+Pairs with the byte file-size gate, which drops .md when this config is present.
+"""
+import fnmatch
+import os
+import sys
+
+import tiktoken
+import yaml
+
+cfg = yaml.safe_load(open(".token-limits.yaml")) if os.path.exists(".token-limits.yaml") else {}
+cfg = cfg if isinstance(cfg, dict) else {}
+limits = cfg.get("limits")
+limits = limits if isinstance(limits, dict) else {}
+exclude = cfg.get("exclude")
+exclude = exclude if isinstance(exclude, list) else []
+if not limits:
+    sys.exit(0)
+
+enc = tiktoken.get_encoding("o200k_base")
+SKIP = {".git", "node_modules", "result", ".terraform", ".terragrunt-cache", ".direnv", ".gh-shared"}
+
+
+def hit(path, name, pat):
+    return fnmatch.fnmatch(path, pat) or fnmatch.fnmatch(name, pat)
+
+
+errors = 0
+for root, dirs, files in os.walk("."):
+    dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if d not in SKIP]
+    for name in files:
+        path = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(root, name), ".")
+        if any(hit(path, name, e) for e in exclude):
+            continue
+        lim = next((v for p, v in limits.items() if isinstance(v, int) and hit(path, name, p)), None)
+        if lim is None:
+            continue
+        try:
+            tokens = len(enc.encode(open(os.path.join(root, name), encoding="utf-8").read()))
+        except (UnicodeDecodeError, OSError):
+            continue
+        if tokens > lim:
+            print(f"::error file={path}::{path} is {tokens} tokens (exceeds {lim})")
+            errors += 1
+
+sys.exit(1 if errors else 0)