diff --git a/extension.json b/extension.json
index fbe460e..e89cdbc 100644
--- a/extension.json
+++ b/extension.json
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
 		"MediaWiki": ">= 1.35.0"
 	},
 	"config": {
-		"EnableMetaDescriptionFunctions": false
+		"EnableMetaDescriptionFunctions": false,
+		"DescriptionMaxChars": 300
 	},
 	"ConfigRegistry": {
 		"Description2": "GlobalVarConfig::newInstance"
diff --git a/includes/Description2.php b/includes/Description2.php
index 62e1004..6794e5d 100644
--- a/includes/Description2.php
+++ b/includes/Description2.php
@@ -48,4 +48,36 @@ class Description2 {
 		self::setDescription( $parser, $desc );
 		return '';
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns no more than a requested number of characters, preserving words.
+	 *
+	 * Borrowed from TextExtracts.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $text Source plain text to extract from. HTML tags should be removed by the description provider.
+	 * @param int $requestedLength Maximum number of characters to return
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function getFirstChars( string $text, int $requestedLength ) {
+		if ( $requestedLength <= 0 ) {
+			return '';
+		}
+
+		$length = mb_strlen( $text );
+		if ( $length <= $requestedLength ) {
+			return $text;
+		}
+
+		// The following (although in somewhat backwards order) cuts the text at given length and restores the end if it
+		// has been cut, with the ungreedy pattern always matching a single word built of word characters (no
+		// punctuation) and/or forward slashes.
+		$pattern = '/^[\w\/]*/su';
+		preg_match( $pattern, mb_substr( $text, $requestedLength ), $m );
+		$truncatedText = mb_substr( $text, 0, $requestedLength ) . $m[0];
+		if ( $truncatedText === $text ) {
+			return $text;
+		}
+
+		return trim( $truncatedText );
+	}
 }
diff --git a/includes/DescriptionProvider.php b/includes/DescriptionProvider.php
index 2ed2ff2..b82ca62 100644
--- a/includes/DescriptionProvider.php
+++ b/includes/DescriptionProvider.php
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ interface DescriptionProvider {
 	 * Extracts description from the HTML representation of a page.
 	 *
 	 * @param string $text HTML to extract the description from.
-	 * @return ?string
+	 * @return ?string Plain text, or null if no description could have been generated
 	 */
 	public function derive( string $text ): ?string;
 }
diff --git a/includes/Hooks.php b/includes/Hooks.php
index 477c0a6..25b7f6b 100644
--- a/includes/Hooks.php
+++ b/includes/Hooks.php
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ class Hooks implements
 	/** @var DescriptionProvider */
 	private DescriptionProvider $descriptionProvider;
 
+	/** @var int */
+	private int $maxChars;
+
 	/**
 	 * @param ConfigFactory $configFactory
 	 */
@@ -40,6 +43,7 @@ class Hooks implements
 	) {
 		$this->config = $configFactory->makeConfig( 'Description2' );
 		$this->descriptionProvider = $descriptionProvider;
+		$this->maxChars = $this->config->get( 'DescriptionMaxChars' );
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -69,11 +73,21 @@ class Hooks implements
 		}
 
 		$desc = $this->descriptionProvider->derive( $text );
-
-		if ( $desc ) {
-			Description2::setDescription( $parser, $desc );
+		if ( !$desc ) {
+			return true;
 		}
 
+		if ( $this->maxChars > 0 ) {
+			$truncated = Description2::getFirstChars( $desc, $this->maxChars );
+			if ( $truncated !== $desc ) {
+				$desc = $truncated;
+				if ( !preg_match( '/\p{P}$/u', $truncated ) ) {
+					$desc = $truncated . wfMessage( 'ellipsis' )->text();
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		Description2::setDescription( $parser, $desc );
 		return true;
 	}