diff --git a/.ci/check-format.sh b/.ci/check-format.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..caf16e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/check-format.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+SOURCES=$(find $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) | egrep "\.(cpp|cc|c|h)\$")
+
+CLANG_FORMAT=$(which clang-format-11)
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    CLANG_FORMAT=$(which clang-format)
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        echo "[!] clang-format not installed. Unable to check source file format policy." >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+fi
+
+set -x
+
+for file in ${SOURCES};
+do
+    $CLANG_FORMAT ${file} > expected-format
+    diff -u -p --label="${file}" --label="expected coding style" ${file} expected-format
+done
+exit $($CLANG_FORMAT --output-replacements-xml ${SOURCES} | egrep -c "</replacement>")
diff --git a/.github/workflows/generate_doc.yaml b/.github/workflows/generate_doc.yaml
index a6aec8a..fe640fc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/generate_doc.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/generate_doc.yaml
@@ -35,3 +35,14 @@ jobs:
             lkmpg-html.tar.gz
           tag_name: "latest"
           prerelease: true
+
+  coding_style:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: style check
+        run: |
+            sudo apt-get install -q -y clang-format-11
+            sh .ci/check-format.sh
+        shell: bash
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e2ca0bd..650494b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -29,3 +29,6 @@ lkmpg.pdf
 *.lg 
 *.idv
 *.xref
+
+# format checks
+expected-format