diff --git a/truncate.go b/truncate.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0fa2ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/truncate.go
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package util
+
+// TruncateString returns at most max characters from the start of s. It counts
+// characters rather than bytes, so a multi-byte character is never cut in half
+// and the result is always valid text. A max of zero or less returns an empty
+// string, and a string already at or below the limit is returned unchanged.
+func TruncateString(s string, max int) string {
+	if max <= 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+
+	count := 0
+	for offset := range s {
+		if count == max {
+			return s[:offset]
+		}
+		count++
+	}
+
+	return s
+}
diff --git a/truncate_test.go b/truncate_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a46325f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/truncate_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package util
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestTruncateString(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		input    string
+		max      int
+		expected string
+	}{
+		{"shorter than the limit", "abc", 5, "abc"},
+		{"exactly at the limit", "abc", 3, "abc"},
+		{"longer than the limit", "abcdef", 3, "abc"},
+		{"max of one", "abc", 1, "a"},
+		{"max of zero", "abc", 0, ""},
+		{"negative max", "abc", -1, ""},
+		{"empty string", "", 3, ""},
+		{"multi-byte characters kept whole", "héllo", 3, "hél"},
+		{"multi-byte characters below the limit", "héllo", 99, "héllo"},
+		{"characters outside the basic plane", "a😀b", 2, "a😀"},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := TruncateString(test.input, test.max)
+			if got != test.expected {
+				t.Errorf("expected %q got %q", test.expected, got)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTruncateStringCountsCharactersNotBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	// Each of these characters is two bytes long, so a byte-based cut at
+	// three would leave half a character behind.
+	got := TruncateString("äöü", 3)
+	if got != "äöü" {
+		t.Errorf("expected %q got %q", "äöü", got)
+	}
+}