diff --git a/.github/workflows/r-build.yml b/.github/workflows/r-build.yml
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bc3a13d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/r-build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2024 Roberto Rossini (roberros@uio.no)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+name: R CMD build
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  push:
+    branches: [ main ]
+    paths:
+      - ".github/workflows/r-build.yml"
+      - "R/**"
+      - "src/**"
+      - "tests/**"
+      - "conanfile.txt"
+      - "run_conan.py"
+      - "DESCRIPTION"
+      - "NAMESPACE"
+    tags:
+      - 'v*.*.*'
+
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - ".github/workflows/r-build.yml"
+      - "R/**"
+      - "src/**"
+      - "tests/**"
+      - "conanfile.txt"
+      - "run_conan.py"
+      - "DESCRIPTION"
+      - "NAMESPACE"
+
+  release:
+    types:
+      - published
+
+env:
+  CONAN_HOME: "${{ github.workspace }}/conan/"
+
+# https://stackoverflow.com/a/72408109
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+defaults:
+  run:
+    shell: bash
+
+jobs:
+  r-build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    - name: Generate requirements.txt
+      run: |
+        echo 'conan>=2' > requirements.txt
+
+    - name: Setup Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.12
+        cache: 'pip'
+
+    - name: Install Conan
+      run: pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+    - name: Install pandoc
+      uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
+
+    - name: Setup R
+      uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
+      with:
+        r-version: 'release'
+
+    - name: Build package
+      run: R CMD build .
+
+    - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+      with:
+        name: package
+        path: hictk_*.tar.gz
+        if-no-files-found: 'error'
+        retention-days: 7
+        compression-level: 0
+
+
+  ci-status-check:
+    name: Status Check (R CMD build)
+    if: ${{ always() }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - r-build
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Collect job results
+        if: needs.r-build.result != 'success'
+        run: exit 1