diff --git a/.ci_support/check_links.sh b/.ci_support/check_links.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8298e111
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/check_links.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+CACHE_NAME=$(pwd)/.pytest-check-links-cache
+KNOWN_FAILS="\
+ibm \
+or declarativewidgets
+"
+
+cd _build/html
+
+
+pytest \
+  --check-links \
+  --check-links-cache \
+  --check-links-cache-name $CACHE_NAME \
+  --check-links-cache-expire-after 604800 \
+  --links-ext html \
+  -k "not ($KNOWN_FAILS)"
diff --git a/.ci_support/check_spelling.sh b/.ci_support/check_spelling.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8533bcf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/check_spelling.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+echo "checking spelling..."
+
+cd _build/html
+
+hunspell \
+  -d en-GB,en_US \
+  -p ../../.ci_support/dictionary.txt \
+  -l \
+  -H **/*.html \
+  | sort \
+  | uniq \
+  > check-spelling.txt
+
+if [ -s "check-spelling.txt" ]; then
+  echo "::warning ::{misspelled words found in built HTML}"
+  echo "::warning ::{$(cat check-spelling.txt)}"
+  exit 1
+else
+  echo "did not find any misspelled words"
+fi
diff --git a/.ci_support/dictionary.txt b/.ci_support/dictionary.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e587aecf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/dictionary.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+DeclarativeWidgets
+JEP
+Jupyter
+md
+Xeus
diff --git a/.ci_support/environment-spelling.yml b/.ci_support/environment-spelling.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..be246282
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/environment-spelling.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+name: spelling
+
+channels:
+  - conda-forge
+
+dependencies:
+  - hunspell-en >=2020.06.01
+  - hunspell >=1.7.0,<2
diff --git a/.ci_support/requirements-build.txt b/.ci_support/requirements-build.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8d7b89c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/requirements-build.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+jupyter-book >=0.7.0,<1
diff --git a/.ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt b/.ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..81c20df9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+pytest-check-links >=0.4.2,<1
+requests_cache >=0.5.2,<1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check.yml b/.github/workflows/check.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f6e5063
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+name: Linting
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - master
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+    - name: Set up Python 3.7
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v1
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.7
+
+    - name: Restore dependency cache
+      uses: actions/cache@v2
+      with:
+        path: ~/.cache/pip
+        key: pip-build-${{ hashFiles('.ci_support/requirements-build.txt') }}
+        restore-keys: |
+          pip-build-
+          pip-
+
+    - name: Install dependencies
+      run: |
+        pip install -U -r .ci_support/requirements-build.txt
+
+    - name: Build the book
+      run: |
+        jupyter-book build .
+
+    - name: Upload book
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
+      with:
+        name: _build
+        path: _build
+
+  spelling:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - build
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Download book
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v2
+        with:
+          name: _build
+          path: _build
+
+      - name: Restore dependency cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v1
+        with:
+          path: ~/conda_pkgs_dir
+          key: conda-spelling-${{ hashFiles('.ci_support/environment-spelling.yml') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            conda-spelling-
+            conda-
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        uses: goanpeca/setup-miniconda@v1.6.0
+        with:
+          activate-environment: spelling
+          channel-priority: strict
+          environment-file: .ci_support/environment-spelling.yml
+          use-only-tar-bz2: true
+
+      - name: Find misspelled words
+        shell: bash -l {0}
+        run: |
+          bash .ci_support/check_spelling.sh
+
+  links:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - build
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Download book
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v2
+        with:
+          name: _build
+          path: _build
+
+      - name: Restore link cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v2
+        with:
+          path: .pytest-check-links-cache.sqlite
+          key: links-checked-${{ hashFiles('.ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            links-checked-
+
+      - name: Restore dependency cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v2
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/pip
+          key: pip-check-links-${{ hashFiles('.ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            pip-check-links-
+            pip-
+
+      - name: Set up Python 3.7
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v1
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.7
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install -U -r .ci_support/requirements-check-links.txt
+
+      - name: Find broken links
+        run: |
+          bash .ci_support/check_links.sh
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 422ea682..43e48932 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,3 +28,6 @@ node_modules
 
 # Jupyter Book
 _build
+
+# test cruft
+*.sqlite