diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df01064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+name: CI
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [master]
+
+jobs:
+  lint:
+    runs-on: linux
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Markdown lint
+        run: |
+          podman run --rm \
+            -v "${{ github.workspace }}:/work:Z" \
+            docker.io/davidanson/markdownlint-cli2:v0.17.2 \
+            "**/*.md"
+
+  link-check:
+    runs-on: linux
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Check internal links
+        run: |
+          podman run --rm \
+            -v "${{ github.workspace }}:/work:Z" \
+            -w /work \
+            docker.io/library/python:3.12-slim \
+            python3 scripts/check-links.py
diff --git a/.markdownlint-cli2.yaml b/.markdownlint-cli2.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f90aed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.markdownlint-cli2.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+config:
+  # Allow long lines in tables and code blocks
+  MD013:
+    line_length: 200
+    tables: false
+    code_blocks: false
+
+  # Allow duplicate headings across files (common in howtos)
+  MD024:
+    siblings_only: true
+
+  # Allow trailing punctuation in headings (e.g. "~/.ssh/config")
+  MD026: false
+
+  # Allow inline HTML (rare but sometimes needed)
+  MD033: false
+
+  # Allow bare URLs in markdown
+  MD034: false
+
+  # Allow multiple blank lines
+  MD012: false
+
+globs:
+  - "**/*.md"
+
+ignores:
+  - ".git"
+  - ".venv"
diff --git a/scripts/check-links.py b/scripts/check-links.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2cffc5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-links.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Check internal cross-references between topic files.
+
+Scans all .md files for See Also links to other topics (backtick-quoted names)
+and verifies that matching files exist under topics/.
+
+Exit codes:
+    0 — all links valid
+    1 — broken links found
+"""
+
+import re
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+TOPICS_DIR = Path("topics")
+DOCS_DIR = Path("docs")
+SEARCH_DIRS = [Path("."), TOPICS_DIR, DOCS_DIR]
+EXCLUDE = {"docs/TEMPLATE.md"}
+
+
+def find_md_files() -> list[Path]:
+    files = []
+    for d in SEARCH_DIRS:
+        if d.exists():
+            files.extend(d.glob("*.md"))
+    return sorted(set(files))
+
+
+def extract_topic_refs(path: Path) -> list[tuple[int, str]]:
+    """Extract backtick-quoted topic references from See Also sections."""
+    refs = []
+    in_see_also = False
+    for lineno, line in enumerate(path.read_text().splitlines(), start=1):
+        if re.match(r"^##\s+See Also", line, re.IGNORECASE):
+            in_see_also = True
+            continue
+        if in_see_also and re.match(r"^##\s+", line):
+            break
+        if in_see_also:
+            for match in re.finditer(r"`([a-z][a-z0-9-]*)`", line):
+                refs.append((lineno, match.group(1)))
+    return refs
+
+
+def check_links() -> int:
+    md_files = find_md_files()
+    topic_names = {p.stem for p in TOPICS_DIR.glob("*.md")} if TOPICS_DIR.exists() else set()
+
+    errors = 0
+    for path in [p for p in md_files if str(p) not in EXCLUDE]:
+        for lineno, ref in extract_topic_refs(path):
+            if ref not in topic_names:
+                print(f"  {path}:{lineno}  broken ref `{ref}` — no topics/{ref}.md")
+                errors += 1
+
+    if errors:
+        print(f"\n  {errors} broken link(s) found")
+        return 1
+
+    print(f"  {len(md_files)} files checked, all internal links valid")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(check_links())