diff --git a/.github/workflows/render-check.yml b/.github/workflows/render-check.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cbf07d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/render-check.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#only runs on PRs, just checks that rendering doesn't fail before merging
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches: main
+    
+name: quarto-render-check
+
+jobs:
+  quarto-render:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        
+      - name: Set up Quarto
+        uses: quarto-dev/quarto-actions/setup@v2
+        
+      - name: Render
+        uses: quarto-dev/quarto-actions/render@v2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6b8227d..9e5053e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 .Rhistory
 .RData
 .Ruserdata
+.DS_Store
 
 /.quarto/
 /_book/