diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-book.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-book.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c417ebb19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-book.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# This workflow ensures the book can still be built.
+# CI checking of Python code in the book happens in the regular CI pytest.
+
+name: CI - Book building
+
+on:
+  # Trigger the workflow on push or pull request,
+  # but only for the main branch, and if the book
+  # has been modified.
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+    paths:
+      - docs/book/**
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - docs/book/**
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Setup mdBook
+        uses: peaceiris/actions-mdbook@v2.0.0
+        with:
+          mdbook-version: '0.4.37'
+
+      - run: mdbook build docs/book
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
index 8bf9da0348..e5a14457e8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
@@ -49,3 +49,9 @@ jobs:
         export PYTHONPATH=$(pwd)
         lit -v tests/filecheck/
         lit -v docs/Toy/examples/
+    
+    - name: Execute book tests
+      run: |
+        for f in docs/book/**/*.py; do
+          python "$f";
+        done
diff --git a/docs/book/book.toml b/docs/book/book.toml
index cb6fbd378a..d990b78479 100644
--- a/docs/book/book.toml
+++ b/docs/book/book.toml
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@ language = "en"
 multilingual = false
 src = "src"
 title = "The xDSL Book"
+
+[build]
+create-missing = false
diff --git a/docs/book/src/starting.md b/docs/book/src/starting.md
index df03efe464..dfff932962 100644
--- a/docs/book/src/starting.md
+++ b/docs/book/src/starting.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 # Starting an xDSL project
 
 TODO: installation steps, environment setup
+
+```py
+{{#include starting.py:test_op}}
+```
diff --git a/docs/book/src/starting.py b/docs/book/src/starting.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dbb58ade1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/book/src/starting.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+from xdsl.irdl import IRDLOperation, irdl_op_definition
+
+# fmt: off
+
+# ANCHOR: test_op
+@irdl_op_definition
+class SomeTestOp(IRDLOperation):
+    name = "some.test"
+# ANCHOR_END: test_op