diff --git a/.github/include/static.sh b/.github/include/static.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..4893440aa5b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/include/static.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# This script is the entrypoint for the static build.
+#
+# To make CI errors easier to reproduce locally, please limit
+# this script to using only git, docker, and coreutils.
+
+set -eux
+
+IMAGE=bpftrace-static
+cd $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+
+# Build the base image
+docker build -t "$IMAGE" -f docker/Dockerfile.static docker/
+
+# Perform bpftrace static build
+docker run -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) -i "$IMAGE" <<'EOF'
+set -eux
+BUILD_DIR=build-static
+cmake -B "$BUILD_DIR" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DSTATIC_LINKING=ON
+make -C "$BUILD_DIR" -j$(nproc)
+
+# Basic smoke test
+./"$BUILD_DIR"/src/bpftrace --help
+
+# Validate that it's a mostly static binary except for libc
+EXPECTED="/lib/ld-musl-x86_64.so.1\nlibc.musl-x86_64.so.1"
+GOT=$(ldd "$BUILD_DIR"/src/bpftrace | awk '{print $1}')
+if ! diff <(echo -e "$EXPECTED") <(echo "$GOT"); then
+  set +x
+  >&2 echo "bpftrace incorrectly linked"
+  exit 1
+fi
+EOF
diff --git a/.github/workflows/static.yml b/.github/workflows/static.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9e1f7d160cfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/static.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+name: Static
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+# Cancel previous run if a new one is started
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - name: Build static bpftrace
+      run: ./.github/include/static.sh
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.static b/docker/Dockerfile.static
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..609de1eace8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.static
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# This Dockerfile is used to test STATIC_LINKING=ON builds in the CI
+
+FROM alpine:3.18
+
+RUN apk add --update \
+  asciidoctor \
+  argp-standalone \
+  bash \
+  bcc-dev \
+  bcc-static \
+  bison \
+  bzip2-static \
+  build-base \
+  cereal \
+  clang-dev \
+  clang-static \
+  cmake \
+  elfutils-dev \
+  flex-dev \
+  git \
+  gtest-dev \
+  libbpf-dev \
+  libelf-static \
+  libpcap-dev \
+  libc6-compat \
+  linux-headers \
+  llvm16-dev \
+  llvm16-static \
+  musl-obstack-dev \
+  openssl-dev \
+  pahole \
+  procps \
+  python3 \
+  wget \
+  xxd \
+  xz-static \
+  zlib-dev \
+  zlib-static \
+  zstd-dev \
+  zstd-static
+
+# It looks like llvm16 prefers to dynamically link against zstd. Extremely
+# unclear why.  Work around it by modifying LLVMExports.cmake.
+RUN sed -i 's/libzstd_shared/libzstd_static/g' /usr/lib/llvm16/lib/cmake/llvm/LLVMExports.cmake