diff --git a/.cirrus.yml b/.cirrus.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4deb1426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cirrus.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# adopted from https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/blob/master/.cirrus.yml
+freebsd_instance:
+  image_family: freebsd-13-2
+task:
+  name: FreeBSD 64-bit
+  setup_script:
+    - pkg install -y bash
+    - curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf --output rustup.sh
+    - sh rustup.sh -y --profile minimal --default-toolchain stable
+    - . $HOME/.cargo/env
+    - |
+      echo "~~~~ rustc --version ~~~~"
+      rustc --version
+  test_script:
+    - . $HOME/.cargo/env
+    - cargo test --all --all-features
diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 4d505963..c65279de 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -106,9 +106,11 @@ jobs:
           rustup target add ${{ matrix.target }}
 
       - name: check build
+      # we can't cargo build here due to missing OS libraries
+      # see .cirrus.yml for full netbsd builds
         run: |
           rustc --version && cargo --version
-          cargo build --target ${{ matrix.target }}
+          cargo check --target ${{ matrix.target }}
 
       - name: check build without crossbeam/default features
         run: cargo build -p notify --no-default-features --target ${{ matrix.target }}