diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index f98eab2..c6a4950 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ static const float focuscolor[]            = {1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0};
 /* To conform the xdg-protocol, set the alpha to zero to restore the old behavior */
 static const float fullscreen_bg[]         = {0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 1.0};
 
-/* tagging */
-static const char *tags[] = { "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9" };
+/* tagging - tagcount must be no greater than 31 */
+static const int tagcount = 9;
 
 static const Rule rules[] = {
 	/* app_id     title       tags mask     isfloating   monitor */
diff --git a/dwl.c b/dwl.c
index 1b59c21..fbdf096 100644
--- a/dwl.c
+++ b/dwl.c
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 #define VISIBLEON(C, M)         ((M) && (C)->mon == (M) && ((C)->tags & (M)->tagset[(M)->seltags]))
 #define LENGTH(X)               (sizeof X / sizeof X[0])
 #define END(A)                  ((A) + LENGTH(A))
-#define TAGMASK                 ((1 << LENGTH(tags)) - 1)
+#define TAGMASK                 ((1u << tagcount) - 1)
 #define LISTEN(E, L, H)         wl_signal_add((E), ((L)->notify = (H), (L)))
 #define IDLE_NOTIFY_ACTIVITY    wlr_idle_notify_activity(idle, seat), wlr_idle_notifier_v1_notify_activity(idle_notifier, seat)
 
@@ -411,9 +411,6 @@ static Atom netatom[NetLast];
 /* attempt to encapsulate suck into one file */
 #include "client.h"
 
-/* compile-time check if all tags fit into an unsigned int bit array. */
-struct NumTags { char limitexceeded[LENGTH(tags) > 31 ? -1 : 1]; };
-
 /* function implementations */
 void
 applybounds(Client *c, struct wlr_box *bbox)