diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-lint.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-lint.yml
index 934ccfec2d8b..4e1a2dc43e72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-lint.yml
@@ -125,3 +125,15 @@ jobs:
           go-version: ${{ fromJson(inputs.version-set).go }}
       - run: |
           make lint_actions
+
+  linear-history:
+    name: linear-history
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          # This should be the merge commit of the PR or candidate merge commit in the staging branch for `bors`.
+          ref: ${{ inputs.ref }}
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: Check for non-linear history
+        run: ./scripts/git-linear-history-check.sh
diff --git a/bors.toml b/bors.toml
index 74ceee2454ce..c6cec5d17dac 100644
--- a/bors.toml
+++ b/bors.toml
@@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ timeout-sec = 7200 # two hours, in seconds
 status = [
 	'bors-ok',
 ]
+pr_status = [
+	'CI / lint / linear-history'
+]
diff --git a/scripts/git-linear-history-check.sh b/scripts/git-linear-history-check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..372caadce25b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/git-linear-history-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# This script is designed to run against a merge commit, either produced during PR checks or a
+# `bors` octopus merge commit. A non-zero exit status is returned if either of the following is true
+# of the COMMITISH (see below)
+# * If COMMITISH is not a merge commit (i.e.: has 0 or 1 parents.)
+# * If COMMITISH is a merge commit and any of the parents have a non-linear history with the common ancestor
+#   of the target commit (first parent).
+
+# usage: ./scripts/git-linear-history-check.sh [COMMITISH]
+#
+#   COMMITISH: a commit to use, if not provided, HEAD is used.
+#
+
+# ## Non-linear merge example
+#
+# Merge commit hash: fc7c341c38c006f96ac288ebfcf5ce18b8e31a48
+#
+# PR commits: https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/11095/commits
+#
+# This commit is a single merge commit produced by `bors`. The 2nd parent of the commit is the PR
+# commit HEAD and the commit history shows a merge commit. This script should log errors and exit
+# with a 1 on this commit.
+
+# ## Linear merge example
+#
+# Merge commit hash: 2a98a6e4dc36524fde5d33f2b5bdca0521441c72
+#
+# PR commits: https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/11261/commits
+#
+# This is a regular PR merge, containing a single commit. This script should not log any errors on
+# this commit.
+
+
+# ## Non-linear octopus merge example
+#
+# Merge commit hash: 0f3e53688fe04ec18180ba87f6915c454023ddf9
+#
+# PR commits:
+# 1. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10687/commits
+# 2. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10729/commits
+# 3. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10740/commits
+#
+# This octopus merge has 3 PRs as parents. The first of which (#10687) has non-linear commit
+# history. This script should log two errors and exit with a 1.
+
+
+# ## Linear octopus merge example
+#
+# Merge commit hash: f033d9de02a633ad386b09d6dfff810ffe7ddea5
+#
+# PR commits:
+# 1. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10815/commits
+# 2. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10821/commits
+# 3. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10822/commits
+# 4. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/pull/10823/commits
+#
+# This octopus merge has 4 PRs as parents, all of which have linear commit history. This script
+# should not log any errors on this commit.
+
+
+# ## Initial commit example
+#
+# Commit hash: 86f6117640ebaaffb8689e241a668218b24f4690
+#
+# This commit has no parents, and should exit with a 1.
+
+
+# ## Single parent (non-merge commit) example
+#
+# Commit hash: 1f861c5132a738216c69398ae600e1998c4e436b
+#
+# This commit has only a single parent, and should exit with a 1.
+
+COMMITISH="${1:-"HEAD"}"
+MERGED_BRANCH_COMMIT="$(git rev-parse "${COMMITISH}")"
+
+>&2 echo "Checking merge commit ${MERGED_BRANCH_COMMIT} for non-linear history"
+
+# git rev-list - list the merged branch commit followed by all of its parents, separated by spaces
+# cut          - remove the first line
+# tr           - replace spaces with newlines to turn this into an array
+PARENTS_RAW=$(git rev-list --no-commit-header --parents -n 1 "${MERGED_BRANCH_COMMIT}" | cut -d' ' -f2- | tr ' ' '\n')
+
+readarray -t PARENTS <<<"${PARENTS_RAW}" # split into array on newlines, -t strips newlines
+if [ "${#PARENTS[@]}" -le "1" ]; then
+  >&2 echo "::error::Input commit ${COMMITISH} is not a merge commit, this script must run against a merge commit."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# First parent in bors & github PR merge commits is always the target branch's HEAD commit:
+TARGET_BRANCH_HEAD="${PARENTS[0]}"
+>&2 echo "Main branch parent is: $(git log --oneline -n 1 "${TARGET_BRANCH_HEAD}")"
+# Subsequent parents are from PR branches:
+PR_BRANCH_HEADS=( "${PARENTS[@]:1}" )
+>&2 echo "PR branch parents are ${PR_BRANCH_HEADS[*]}"
+
+HAS_MERGE_COMMIT=false
+for PR_COMMIT in "${PR_BRANCH_HEADS[@]}"; do
+  >&2 echo "Checking: $(git log --oneline -n 1 "${PR_COMMIT}")"
+  # Find the common parent of the target branch and PR branch
+  MERGE_COMMITS_IN_PR=$(git rev-list "${TARGET_BRANCH_HEAD}..${PR_COMMIT}" --merges | cut -d' ' -f2-)
+  for MERGE_COMMIT in ${MERGE_COMMITS_IN_PR}; do
+    >&2 echo "::error::Non-linear history, PR contains a merge ${MERGE_COMMIT}. Remove this by rebasing on the target."
+    HAS_MERGE_COMMIT=true
+  done
+done
+
+if ${HAS_MERGE_COMMIT}; then
+  >&2 echo "::error::Detected non-linear history."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+>&2 echo "✅ Commit history is linear."