diff --git a/.github/workflows/node.yml b/.github/workflows/node.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..80d77eff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/node.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+name: Node.js CI
+
+on:
+  push:
+  pull_request:
+
+env:
+  # The packages use workspace:^ and catalog: versions, so they only resolve
+  # inside a clusterio checkout with this repository under external_plugins
+  CLUSTERIO_REPOSITORY: clusterio/clusterio
+  CLUSTERIO_REF: master
+  # Node version to use for the tests. This is used by the setup-node action
+  NODE_VERSION: lts/*
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        working-directory: external_plugins/ExpCluster
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Clusterio
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          repository: ${{ env.CLUSTERIO_REPOSITORY }}
+          ref: ${{ env.CLUSTERIO_REF }}
+      - name: Checkout ExpCluster
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          path: external_plugins/ExpCluster
+      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
+      - name: Install and build
+        working-directory: .
+        run: pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: pnpm --filter "@expcluster/*" run test
+      - name: Run reference checks
+        run: |
+          # pnpm install runs prepare in dependency order, which hides missing
+          # project references. Building from an empty dist one package at a time
+          # will fail unless every cross package import is referenced correctly.
+          for pkg in exp_*/; do
+            rm -rf exp_*/dist
+            echo "::group::${pkg%/}"
+            (cd "$pkg" && pnpm exec tsc --build)
+            echo "::endgroup::"
+          done
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 9fa851c4..216a5196 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ For developers wanting to add features please follow these guidelines:
 - Lua is checked with [emmylua](https://github.com/EmmyLuaLs/emmylua-analyzer-rust), configured by `.emmyrc.json`. Install the EmmyLua extension rather than sumnekolua / luals, and use factoriomod-debug to generate the factorio api types. Note that an inline cast must be written `--[[@as T]]`, the spaced form is not parsed.
 - Changes should be made on your own fork and merged into `main` through a pull request.
 - Each pull request should be limited to one feature or a few bug fixes and link to the related issue page.
-- Pull requests are automatically linted and documentation checked.
+- Pull requests are automatically linted, then built and tested against the latest clusterio `master`.
 - Pull requests are manually reviewed to maintain code and language quality.
 - New features should have the branch names: `feature/feature-name`
 - Bug fixes should have the branch names: `fix/bug-name`