diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3691eca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# taken from https://github.com/e-mission/e-mission-server/blob/master/.github/workflows/test-with-manual-install.yml
+
+name: unit-tests
+
+# Controls when the action will run. Triggers the workflow on push or pull request
+on:
+  push:
+  pull_request:
+
+# A workflow run is made up of one or more jobs that can run sequentially or in parallel
+jobs:
+  test-pytest:
+    # The type of runner that the job will run on
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+    - name: Run setup.sh
+      shell: bash -l {0}
+      run: |
+        source bin/setup.sh
+
+    - name: Run pytest
+      shell: bash -l {0}
+      run: |
+        source bin/run_pytest.sh
+
+  test-jest:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+    - name: Set up Node.js
+      uses: actions/setup-node@v2
+      with:
+        node-version: '20'
+
+    - name: Run setup.sh
+      shell: bash -l {0}
+      run: |
+        source bin/setup.sh
+
+    - name: Run jest tests
+      shell: bash -l {0}
+      run: |
+        source bin/run_jest.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4dc3ab1..b1f891d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ This repository uses the [Transcrypt](https://www.transcrypt.org/) library to co
 
 ## Setup
 
-```
+```bash
 . bin/setup.sh
 ```
 
@@ -126,3 +126,7 @@ There may be testing scenarios that must significantly diverge between Python an
 ```bash
 . bin/run_jest.sh
 ```
+
+### GitHub Actions
+
+The unit tests also run via an Actions workflow, which executes both `run_pytest.sh` and `run_jest.sh` on each commit or PR to `master`.
diff --git a/bin/compile_to_js.sh b/bin/compile_to_js.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/bin/run_jest.sh b/bin/run_jest.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/bin/run_pytest.sh b/bin/run_pytest.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/bin/setup.sh b/bin/setup.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755