diff --git a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/count.go b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/count.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6f06a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/count.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"fiatjaf.com/nostr"
+	"github.com/mailru/easyjson"
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v3"
+)
+
+var count = &cli.Command{
+	Name:        "count",
+	ArgsUsage:   "[<filter-json>]",
+	Usage:       "counts all events that match a given filter",
+	Description: "applies the filter to the currently open eventstore, counting the results",
+	Action: func(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command) error {
+		hasError := false
+		for line := range getStdinLinesOrFirstArgument(c) {
+			filter := nostr.Filter{}
+			if err := easyjson.Unmarshal([]byte(line), &filter); err != nil {
+				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "invalid filter '%s': %s\n", line, err)
+				hasError = true
+				continue
+			}
+
+			res, err := db.CountEvents(filter)
+			if err != nil {
+				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to count '%s': %s\n", filter, err)
+				hasError = true
+				continue
+			}
+			fmt.Println(res)
+		}
+
+		if hasError {
+			os.Exit(123)
+		}
+		return nil
+	},
+}
diff --git a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
index a05daae..0ee2c3d 100644
--- a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
+++ b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ var app = &cli.Command{
 	Commands: []*cli.Command{
 		queryOrSave,
 		query,
+		count,
 		save,
 		delete_,
 		neg,
diff --git a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/query.go b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/query.go
index 7e88a64..966067a 100644
--- a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/query.go
+++ b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/query.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ var query = &cli.Command{
 	Name:        "query",
 	ArgsUsage:   "[<filter-json>]",
 	Usage:       "queries an eventstore for events, takes a filter as argument",
-	Description: "applies the filter to the currently open eventstore, returning up to a million events.\n takes either a filter as an argument or reads a stream of filters from stdin.",
+	Description: "applies the filter to the currently open eventstore, returning up to 10 million events.\n takes either a filter as an argument or reads a stream of filters from stdin.",
 	Action: func(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command) error {
 		hasError := false
 		for line := range getStdinLinesOrFirstArgument(c) {
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ var query = &cli.Command{
 				continue
 			}
 
-			for evt := range db.QueryEvents(filter, 1_000_000) {
+			for evt := range db.QueryEvents(filter, 10_000_000) {
 				fmt.Println(evt)
 			}
 		}