diff --git a/.github/workflows/file_format.yml b/.github/workflows/file_format.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a41c61203
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/file_format.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+name: File format check
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+jobs:
+  format:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+      with:
+        python-version: '3.x'
+    - run: python3 ./run_format_tests.py
diff --git a/run_format_tests.py b/run_format_tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f41f3d10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run_format_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# Copyright 2012-2019 The Meson development team
+
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# some simple checks on the file format of:
+# - python code
+# - code samples in tests
+# - markdown documentation
+#
+# checks are:
+# - no use of tabs
+# - no use of DOS line endings
+
+import os
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+def check_file(file: Path) -> None:
+    lines = file.read_bytes().split(b'\n')
+    tabdetector = re.compile(br' *\t')
+    for i, line in enumerate(lines):
+        if re.match(tabdetector, line):
+            raise SystemExit("File {} contains a tab indent on line {:d}. Only spaces are permitted.".format(file, i + 1))
+        if line.endswith(b'\r'):
+            raise SystemExit("File {} contains DOS line ending on line {:d}. Only unix-style line endings are permitted.".format(file, i + 1))
+
+def check_format() -> None:
+    check_suffixes = {'.c',
+                      '.cpp',
+                      '.cxx',
+                      '.cc',
+                      '.rs',
+                      '.f90',
+                      '.vala',
+                      '.d',
+                      '.s',
+                      '.m',
+                      '.mm',
+                      '.asm',
+                      '.java',
+                      '.txt',
+                      '.py',
+                      '.swift',
+                      '.build',
+                      '.md',
+                      }
+    skip_dirs = {
+        '.dub',                         # external deps are here
+        '.pytest_cache',
+        'meson-logs', 'meson-private',
+        'work area',
+        '.eggs', '_cache',              # e.g. .mypy_cache
+        'venv',                         # virtualenvs have DOS line endings
+    }
+    for (root, _, filenames) in os.walk('.'):
+        if any([x in root for x in skip_dirs]):
+            continue
+        for fname in filenames:
+            file = Path(fname)
+            if file.suffix.lower() in check_suffixes:
+                if file.name in ('sitemap.txt', 'meson-test-run.txt'):
+                    continue
+                check_file(root / file)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    script_dir = os.path.split(__file__)[0]
+    if script_dir != '':
+        os.chdir(script_dir)
+    check_format()
diff --git a/run_project_tests.py b/run_project_tests.py
index af04f0ae4..d6dc5e1af 100755
--- a/run_project_tests.py
+++ b/run_project_tests.py
@@ -1330,53 +1330,6 @@ def _run_tests(all_tests: T.List[T.Tuple[str, T.List[TestDef], bool]],
     ET.ElementTree(element=junit_root).write(xmlname, xml_declaration=True, encoding='UTF-8')
     return passing_tests, failing_tests, skipped_tests
 
-def check_file(file: Path) -> None:
-    lines = file.read_bytes().split(b'\n')
-    tabdetector = re.compile(br' *\t')
-    for i, line in enumerate(lines):
-        if re.match(tabdetector, line):
-            raise SystemExit("File {} contains a tab indent on line {:d}. Only spaces are permitted.".format(file, i + 1))
-        if line.endswith(b'\r'):
-            raise SystemExit("File {} contains DOS line ending on line {:d}. Only unix-style line endings are permitted.".format(file, i + 1))
-
-def check_format() -> None:
-    check_suffixes = {'.c',
-                      '.cpp',
-                      '.cxx',
-                      '.cc',
-                      '.rs',
-                      '.f90',
-                      '.vala',
-                      '.d',
-                      '.s',
-                      '.m',
-                      '.mm',
-                      '.asm',
-                      '.java',
-                      '.txt',
-                      '.py',
-                      '.swift',
-                      '.build',
-                      '.md',
-                      }
-    skip_dirs = {
-        '.dub',                         # external deps are here
-        '.pytest_cache',
-        'meson-logs', 'meson-private',
-        'work area',
-        '.eggs', '_cache',              # e.g. .mypy_cache
-        'venv',                         # virtualenvs have DOS line endings
-    }
-    for (root, _, filenames) in os.walk('.'):
-        if any([x in root for x in skip_dirs]):
-            continue
-        for fname in filenames:
-            file = Path(fname)
-            if file.suffix.lower() in check_suffixes:
-                if file.name in ('sitemap.txt', 'meson-test-run.txt'):
-                    continue
-                check_file(root / file)
-
 def check_meson_commands_work(use_tmpdir: bool, extra_args: T.List[str]) -> None:
     global backend, compile_commands, test_commands, install_commands
     testdir = PurePath('test cases', 'common', '1 trivial').as_posix()
@@ -1567,7 +1520,6 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     script_dir = os.path.split(__file__)[0]
     if script_dir != '':
         os.chdir(script_dir)
-    check_format()
     check_meson_commands_work(options.use_tmpdir, options.extra_args)
     only = collections.defaultdict(list)
     for i in options.only: