diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7243d43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: test
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [ "master" ]
+
+env:
+  CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - uses: actions/cache@v4
+      with:
+        path: |
+          ~/.cargo/bin/
+          ~/.cargo/registry/index/
+          ~/.cargo/registry/cache/
+          ~/.cargo/git/db/
+          target/
+        key: ${{ runner.os }}-cargo-${{ hashFiles('**/Cargo.toml') }}
+    - name: build
+      run: cargo build --verbose --release
+    - name: tests
+      run: cargo test --release
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8a7b77e..187c871 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,31 +5,31 @@ edition = "2021"
 exclude = ["presets", "examples"]
 
 [dependencies]
-serde = { version = "*", features = ["derive"] }
-bincode = "*"
-chashmap = "*"
-contrie = "*"
-mio = { version = "*", features = ["net", "os-poll"] }
-dashmap = { version = "*", features = ["inline"] }
-parking_lot = "*"
-clap = { version = "=4.0.0", features = ["derive"] }
-rand = "*"
-log = "*"
-zipf = "*"
-serial_test = "*"
-env_logger = "*"
-jemallocator = "*"
-toml = "*"
-inventory = "*"
-core_affinity = "*"
-quanta = "*"
-hashbrown = "*"
-ahash = "*"
-figment = { version = "*", features = ["toml", "env"] }
-scc = "*"
-flurry = "*"
-papaya = "*"
-ctrlc = "*"
+ahash = "0.8.11"
+bincode = "1.3.3"
+chashmap = "2.2.2"
+clap = { version = "=4.5.10", features = ["derive"] }
+contrie = "0.1.4"
+core_affinity = "0.8.1"
+ctrlc = "3.4.4"
+dashmap = { version = "6.0.1", features = ["inline"] }
+env_logger = "0.11.3"
+figment = { version = "0.10.19", features = ["toml", "env"] }
+flurry = "0.5.1"
+hashbrown = "0.14.5"
+inventory = "0.3.15"
+jemallocator = "0.5.4"
+log = "0.4.22"
+mio = { version = "1.0.0", features = ["net", "os-poll"] }
+papaya = "0.1.1"
+parking_lot = "0.12.3"
+quanta = "0.12.3"
+rand = "0.8.5"
+scc = "2.1.2"
+serde = { version = "1.0.204", features = ["derive"] }
+serial_test = "3.1.1"
+toml = "0.8.14"
+zipf = "7.0.1"
 
 [profile.release]
 debug = true
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0d97c22..573c280 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # kvbench
 
+![github tests badge](https://github.com/nerdroychan/kvbench/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg)
+
 A benchmarking framework designed for testing key-value stores with easily customizable
 workloads.