diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 125843d3c4fd..4cd84f6f54fe 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ jobs:
       run: scripts/configure-macos.sh
     - name: make, including test programs
       run: make check -j4 TESTS=
+    - name: check what works so far
+      run: scripts/check-macos.sh
 
   generate-matrix:
     # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59977364
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 361e819f8e7d..a67b3fd5a43a 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	scripts/install-deps-deb.sh \
 	scripts/install-deps-rpm.sh \
 	scripts/install-deps-macos.sh \
-	scripts/configure-macos.sh
+	scripts/configure-macos.sh \
+	scripts/check-macos.sh
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I config
 
diff --git a/scripts/check-macos.sh b/scripts/check-macos.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..a377512e7396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-macos.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Check what should work so far in src/common on macos
+
+die() {
+    echo "$(basename $0): $@" >&2
+    exit 1
+}
+
+CONF_SCRIPT=scripts/configure-macos.sh
+
+test -f $CONF_SCRIPT || die "please run from the top level of the source tree"
+test -f configure || die "please run $CONF_SCRIPT first"
+
+COMMON_WORKING="libtap libtestutil libyuarel libpmi liblsd libutil libflux libfluxutil libkvs libjob liboptparse libidset libtomlc99 libschedutil libeventlog libioencode librouter libdebugged libcontent libjob libhostlist libczmqcontainers libccan libzmqutil libtaskmap libfilemap libsdexec libmissing"
+COMMON_BROKEN="libsubprocess libterminus librlist"
+
+make -j4 -C src/common check SUBDIRS="$COMMON_WORKING" || die "check failed"
+
+cat >&2 <<-EOT
+=============================================
+* Well the unit tests that worked before on macos still work!
+* However, please note that the macos port of flux-core is incomplete.
+* Search for 'macos' at https://github.com/flux-framework/flux-core/issues
+* for portability issues that still need to be resolved.
+=============================================
+EOT