diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8db4df1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+name: CI
+# Lightweight validation on every push to main: type-check + build the frontend and
+# byte-compile the backend. The image build and rollout happen on the the VPS host
+# (see deploy/README.md); this just catches breakage early.
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  frontend:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: "20"
+      - run: npm ci
+        working-directory: frontend
+      - run: npx tsc --noEmit
+        working-directory: frontend
+      - run: npm run build
+        working-directory: frontend
+
+  backend:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
+        working-directory: backend
+      - run: python -m compileall -q app
+        working-directory: backend