diff --git a/.clang-tidy b/.clang-tidy
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d2467898d7a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.clang-tidy
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+# vim: set ft=yaml:
+HeaderFilterRegex: '/gpt4all-(backend|chat)/(src|include)/'
+Checks:
+- 'bugprone-*'
+- 'cert-*'
+- 'clang-analyzer-*'
+- 'cppcoreguidelines-*'
+- 'google-*'
+- 'misc-*'
+- 'modernize-*'
+- 'performance-*'
+- 'portability-*'
+- 'readability-*'
+- '-*-avoid-c-arrays'
+- '-*-macro-to-enum'
+- '-*-magic-numbers'
+- '-*-narrowing-conversions'
+- '-*-non-private-member-variables-in-classes'
+- '-*-use-default-member-init'
+- '-*readability-braces-around-statements'
+- '-bugprone-assignment-in-if-condition'
+- '-bugprone-branch-clone'
+- '-bugprone-crtp-constructor-accessibility'
+- '-bugprone-easily-swappable-parameters'
+- '-bugprone-implicit-widening-of-multiplication-result'
+- '-bugprone-inc-dec-in-conditions'
+- '-bugprone-suspicious-string-compare'
+- '-bugprone-suspicious-stringview-data-usage'
+- '-bugprone-switch-missing-default-case'
+- '-cert-dcl03-c'
+- '-cert-err33-c'
+- '-cert-err58-cpp'
+- '-clang-analyzer-core.CallAndMessage'
+- '-clang-analyzer-cplusplus.Move'
+- '-clang-analyzer-deadcode.DeadStores'
+- '-clang-analyzer-optin.performance.Padding'
+- '-clang-diagnostic-missing-include-dirs'
+- '-clang-diagnostic-unreachable-code-break'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-avoid-do-while'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-avoid-goto'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-explicit-virtual-functions'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-init-variables'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-macro-usage'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-no-malloc'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-noexcept-move-operations'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-prefer-member-initializer'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-bounds-array-to-pointer-decay'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-bounds-pointer-arithmetic'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-const-cast'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-cstyle-cast'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-member-init'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-reinterpret-cast'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-static-cast-downcast'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-union-access'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-vararg'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-rvalue-reference-param-not-moved'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions'
+- '-cppcoreguidelines-virtual-class-destructor'
+- '-google-build-using-namespace'
+- '-google-default-arguments'
+- '-google-explicit-constructor'
+- '-google-global-names-in-headers'
+- '-google-readability-casting'
+- '-google-readability-namespace-comments'
+- '-google-readability-todo'
+- '-google-runtime-int'
+- '-misc-const-correctness'
+- '-misc-include-cleaner'
+- '-misc-no-recursion'
+- '-misc-static-assert'
+- '-misc-unused-parameters'
+- '-misc-use-anonymous-namespace'
+- '-misc-use-internal-linkage'
+- '-modernize-avoid-bind'
+- '-modernize-deprecated-headers'
+- '-modernize-loop-convert'
+- '-modernize-pass-by-value'
+- '-modernize-raw-string-literal'
+- '-modernize-return-braced-init-list'
+- '-modernize-use-auto'
+- '-modernize-use-designated-initializers'
+- '-modernize-use-equals-default'
+- '-modernize-use-nodiscard'
+- '-modernize-use-override'
+- '-modernize-use-ranges'
+- '-modernize-use-std-print'
+- '-modernize-use-trailing-return-type'
+- '-modernize-use-using'
+- '-performance-avoid-endl'
+- '-performance-enum-size'
+- '-performance-faster-string-find'
+- '-performance-for-range-copy'
+- '-performance-implicit-conversion-in-loop'
+- '-performance-move-const-arg'
+- '-performance-noexcept-move-constructor'
+- '-performance-no-automatic-move'
+- '-performance-unnecessary-copy-initialization'
+- '-performance-unnecessary-value-param'
+- '-readability-avoid-const-params-in-decls'
+- '-readability-avoid-nested-conditional-operator'
+- '-readability-avoid-return-with-void-value'
+- '-readability-avoid-unconditional-preprocessor-if'
+- '-readability-const-return-type'
+- '-readability-container-size-empty'
+- '-readability-convert-member-functions-to-static'
+- '-readability-else-after-return'
+- '-readability-function-cognitive-complexity'
+- '-readability-identifier-length'
+- '-readability-implicit-bool-conversion'
+- '-readability-inconsistent-declaration-parameter-name'
+- '-readability-isolate-declaration'
+- '-readability-math-missing-parentheses'
+- '-readability-named-parameter'
+- '-readability-non-const-parameter'
+- '-readability-qualified-auto'
+- '-readability-redundant-access-specifiers'
+- '-readability-redundant-inline-specifier'
+- '-readability-redundant-member-init'
+- '-readability-redundant-string-init'
+- '-readability-simplify-boolean-expr'
+- '-readability-static-accessed-through-instance'
+- '-readability-suspicious-call-argument'
+- '-readability-uppercase-literal-suffix'
+- '-readability-use-anyofallof'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cpp-linter.yml b/.github/workflows/cpp-linter.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4ca5941b7d14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/cpp-linter.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+name: cpp-linter
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    paths: ['.github/workflows/cpp-linter.yml', '**.c', '**.cpp', '**.h', '**.inl', '**CMakeLists.txt', '**.cmake']
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+    paths: ['.github/workflows/cpp-linter.yml', '**.c', '**.cpp', '**.h', '**.inl', '**CMakeLists.txt', '**.cmake']
+
+jobs:
+  cpp-linter:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          submodules: 'recursive'
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          wget -qO- 'https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key' | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/apt.llvm.org.asc >/dev/null
+          sudo add-apt-repository -y 'deb http://apt.llvm.org/noble/  llvm-toolchain-noble-19 main'
+          packages=(
+            clang-19 clang-format-19 clang-tidy-19 cmake git libgl-dev libopengl-dev libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 libxcb-glx0
+            libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shape0
+            libxcb-shm0 libxcb-sync1 libxcb-xfixes0 libxcb-xinput0 libxcb-xkb1 libxcb1 libxkbcommon-dev
+            libxkbcommon-x11-0 libxkbcommon0 make
+          )
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y "${packages[@]}" --no-install-recommends
+      - name: Install Qt
+        env:
+          QT_EMAIL: ${{ secrets.QT_EMAIL }}
+          QT_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.QT_PASSWORD }}
+        run: |
+          wget 'https://qt.mirror.constant.com/archive/online_installers/4.8/qt-online-installer-linux-x64-4.8.0.run'
+          chmod +x qt-online-installer-linux-x64-4.8.0.run
+          ./qt-online-installer-linux-x64-4.8.0.run --no-force-installations --no-default-installations \
+            --no-size-checking --default-answer --accept-licenses --confirm-command --accept-obligations \
+            --email "$QT_EMAIL" --password "$QT_PASSWORD" install \
+            qt.qt6.680.linux_gcc_64 extensions.qtpdf.680.linux_gcc_64 qt.qt6.680.addons.qthttpserver
+      - name: Configure
+        run: |
+          sed -i '/file(DOWNLOAD/,+4 s/^/#/' gpt4all-chat/CMakeLists.txt
+          cmake -S gpt4all-chat -B gpt4all-chat/build \
+            -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/Qt/6.8.0/gcc_64/lib/cmake \
+            -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang-19 \
+            -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++-19 \
+            -DLLMODEL_CUDA=OFF \
+            -DLLMODEL_KOMPUTE=OFF
+      - uses: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action@v2
+        id: linter
+        with:
+          style: ''  # no clang-format
+          extensions: 'c,cpp'
+          tidy-checks: ''  # use .clang-tidy config
+          database: gpt4all-chat/build
+          version: 19
+          files-changed-only: false
+          ignore: 'gpt4all-chat/build/_deps|gpt4all-bindings'
+      - name: Fail Fast
+        if: steps.linter.outputs.clang-tidy-checks-failed > 0
+        run: exit 1