Finally, it is also helpful to count total steps in the synthesis, as this score indicates the length of time required to complete a project. The Steps score correlates with Avg Path (more steps = more path lengths) and is a secondary measure of project complexity, less important than the yield-limiting lengths of individual paths. Using this simple reaction-counting metric to sort brackets, Auto-Bracket considers all possible synthesis routes and returns a single winning strategy (or optionally, a sorted list) with most efficient bracket scores (lowest Max Path, Avg Path, and Steps, in order of sort priority).