diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 3d362eaea..14d5b6318 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 gitpython
 urllib3
-potodo
+# change this back to native "potodo" after the upstream PR is merged
+# ref: https://git.afpy.org/AFPy/potodo/pulls/20
+git+https://git.afpy.org/maciek/potodo.git@word-counts
 jinja2
 docutils
 sphinx