diff --git a/.github/workflows/checks.yml b/.github/workflows/checks.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4bab5d232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/checks.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+name: Run checks
+
+on: [push]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    services:
+      postgres:
+        image: postgres
+        env:
+          POSTGRES_DB: db
+          POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
+        options: >-
+          --health-cmd pg_isready
+          --health-interval 10s
+          --health-timeout 5s
+          --health-retries 5
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+    - name: Set up Python 3.9
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v3
+      with:
+        python-version: "3.9"
+    - name: Install dependencies
+      run: make bootstrap
+    # - name: Run style checks
+    #   run: flake8 .
+    # - name: Check imports alphabetized
+    #   run: isort --check-only ./app ./tests
+    - name: Run tests
+      run: pytest -n4 --maxfail=10
+      env:
+        SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_TEST_URI: postgresql://postgres:password@db:5432/test_notification_api
diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index f5f7f9325..507134e07 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -471,8 +471,8 @@ class Test(Development):
     TRANSIENT_UPLOADED_LETTERS = 'test-transient-uploaded-letters'
     LETTER_SANITISE_BUCKET_NAME = 'test-letters-sanitise'
 
-    # this is overriden in jenkins and on cloudfoundry
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = os.getenv('SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI', 'postgresql://postgres:chummy@db:5432/notification_api')
+    # this is overriden in CI
+    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = os.getenv('SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_TEST_URI', 'postgresql://postgres:chummy@db:5432/test_notification_api')
 
     CELERY = {
         **Config.CELERY,