diff --git a/.github/scripts/no_pandas.py b/.github/scripts/no_pandas.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1387a5aa3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/no_pandas.py
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# %%
+from ast import NodeVisitor, Import, ImportFrom, alias, parse
+from pathlib import Path
+from os import walk
+
+
+# %%
+class NaughtyImportChecker(NodeVisitor):
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.import_crimes: list["Import | ImportFrom"] = []
+
+    def visit_Import(self, node: Import):
+        for el in node.names:
+            if el.name.split(".")[0] == "pandas":
+                self.import_crimes.append(node)
+
+    def visit_ImportFrom(self, node: ImportFrom):
+        if node.module and node.module.split(".")[0] == "pandas":
+            self.import_crimes.append(node)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def validate_file(cls, fname: str):
+        with open(fname) as f:
+            tree = parse(f.read(), filename=fname)
+
+        visitor = cls()
+        visitor.visit(tree)
+
+        return visitor.import_crimes
+
+    @classmethod
+    def validate_folder(cls, folder: str) -> dict[Path, list["ImportFrom | Import"]]:
+        all_crimes: dict[Path, list["ImportFrom | Import"]] = {}
+        for dirpath, _, filenames in walk(folder):
+            for fname in filenames:
+                if fname.endswith(".py"):
+                    p = Path(dirpath) / fname
+                    crimes = cls.validate_file(str(p))
+                    if len(crimes):
+                        all_crimes[p.relative_to(folder)] = crimes
+
+        return all_crimes
+
+
+def report_details(results: list["ImportFrom | Import"]):
+    n_entries = len(results)
+    return f"{n_entries} imports"
+
+
+def report(results: dict[str, list["ImportFrom | Import"]], forgiveable: "list[str] | None" = None):
+    if forgiveable is None:
+        forgiveable = []
+
+    lines = []
+    for path, crimes in results.items():
+        if str(path) in forgiveable:
+            continue
+        lines.append(f"{path}: {report_details(crimes)}")
+
+    if lines:
+        raise Exception("Pandas imports detected.\n\n" + "\n".join(lines))
+
+
+# %%
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import sys
+
+    folder, *forgiveable = sys.argv[1:]
+    print(forgiveable)
+
+    crimes = NaughtyImportChecker.validate_folder(folder)
+    report(crimes, forgiveable=forgiveable)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml b/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
index ed8a8e06f..b69a8aa85 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
@@ -18,3 +18,14 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: "3.10"
       - uses: pre-commit/action@v3.0.1
+
+  optional-deps:
+    name: "Static check optional deps"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.10"
+      - run: |
+          python .github/scripts/no_pandas.py _tbl_data.py data/__init__.py