diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d26e0db96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+name: Unit Tests
+
+# suppress warning raised by https://github.com/jupyter/jupyter_core/pull/292
+env:
+  JUPYTER_PLATFORM_DIRS: "1"
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: main
+  pull_request:
+    branches: "*"
+
+jobs:
+  unit-tests:
+    name: Linux
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Base Setup
+        uses: jupyterlab/maintainer-tools/.github/actions/base-setup@v1
+
+      - name: Install extension dependencies and build the extension
+        run: ./scripts/install.sh
+
+      - name: Execute unit tests
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          pytest -vv -r ap --cov jupyter_ai