diff --git a/.github/workflows/commitlint.yml b/.github/workflows/commitlint.yml
index f5cf4c3b..5c69807a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/commitlint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/commitlint.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
-name: Conventional Commitlint
+name: Commit Linter
 
 on:
   push:
     branches: ["main"]
   pull_request:
 
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  pull-requests: read
 jobs:
   commitlint:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -13,5 +16,22 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
       pull-requests: read
     steps:
-      - name: Conventional Commitlint
-        uses: opensource-nepal/commitlint@v1
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: Setup node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: lts/*
+      - name: Install commitlint
+        run: npm install -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional
+      - name: Print versions
+        run: |
+          git --version
+          node --version
+          npm --version
+          npx commitlint --version
+
+      - name: Validate PR commits with commitlint
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+        run: npx commitlint --from ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }} --to ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }} --verbose
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e62a0fa3..e6eff21e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,3 +20,7 @@ rebar3.crashdump
 doc
 !_index.md
 guides
+# don't commit the stuff required for commitlint to work
+node_modules
+package-lock.json
+package.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/commitlint.config.ts b/commitlint.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f3c86500
--- /dev/null
+++ b/commitlint.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import {
+	RuleConfigCondition,
+	RuleConfigSeverity,
+	TargetCaseType,
+} from "@commitlint/types";
+
+export default {
+	parserPreset: "conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits",
+	rules: {
+		"body-leading-blank": [RuleConfigSeverity.Warning, "always"] as const,
+		"body-max-line-length": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "always", 100] as const,
+		"footer-leading-blank": [RuleConfigSeverity.Warning, "always"] as const,
+		"footer-max-line-length": [
+			RuleConfigSeverity.Error,
+			"always",
+			100,
+		] as const,
+		"header-max-length": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "always", 100] as const,
+		"header-trim": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "always"] as const,
+		"subject-case": [
+			RuleConfigSeverity.Error,
+			"never",
+			["sentence-case", "start-case", "pascal-case", "upper-case"],
+		] as [RuleConfigSeverity, RuleConfigCondition, TargetCaseType[]],
+		"subject-empty": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "never"] as const,
+		"subject-full-stop": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "never", "."] as const,
+		"type-case": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "always", "lower-case"] as const,
+		"type-empty": [RuleConfigSeverity.Error, "never"] as const,
+		"type-enum": [
+			RuleConfigSeverity.Error,
+			"always",
+			[
+				"chore",
+				"feat",
+				"fix",
+			],
+		] as [RuleConfigSeverity, RuleConfigCondition, string[]],
+	},
+};
diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 7bc735e8..cf9b55b9 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -8,3 +8,8 @@ changelogs:
         git cliff 29b747722addf39ce40014ee1a905a973c9044be.. --include-path "${dir}/**" --workdir ${dir} -o ${dir}/CHANGELOG.md
       fi
     done
+
+# lint the commits between HEAD and the point from `origin/main` this branch was created from
+commit-lint:
+    npm install -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional
+    npx commitlint --verbose --from `git merge-base --fork-point origin/main` --to HEAD