diff --git a/.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R b/.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b477849dd1a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+args <- commandArgs(
+    trailingOnly = TRUE
+)
+package_tarball <- args[[1L]]
+log_file <- args[[2L]]
+dir.create(dirname(log_file), recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
+
+email <- c(
+    150L, 147L, 145L, 146L, 158L, 145L, 140L, 151L, 137L, 158L, 143L, 157L, 158L, 137L, 143L, 151L,
+    139L, 147L, 150L, 106L, 163L, 153L, 154L, 151L, 139L, 147L, 150L, 88L, 141L, 153L, 151L
+)
+rhub::validate_email(
+    email = intToUtf8(email - 42L)
+    , token = "6bc89147c8fc4824bce09f8454e4ab8e"
+)
+
+if (Sys.info()["sysname"] == "Windows") {
+    null_file <- "NUL"
+} else {
+    null_file <- "/dev/null"
+}
+sink(file = null_file)
+checks_succeeded <- TRUE
+platforms <- c(
+    "solaris-x86-patched"
+    , "solaris-x86-patched-ods"
+)
+for (platform in platforms) {
+    res_object <- rhub::check(
+        path = package_tarball
+        , email = intToUtf8(email - 42L)
+        , check_args = "--as-cran"
+        , platform = platform
+        , env_vars = c(
+            "R_COMPILE_AND_INSTALL_PACKAGES" = "always"
+            , "_R_CHECK_SYSTEM_CLOCK_" = 0L
+            , "_R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_REMOTE_" = 0L
+            , "_R_CHECK_PKG_SIZES_THRESHOLD_" = 60L
+            , "_R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_" = 0L
+        )
+        , show_status = TRUE
+    )
+    statuses <- res_object[[".__enclos_env__"]][["private"]][["status_"]]
+    plaform_name <- names(statuses)[1L]
+    url <- sprintf(
+        "https://builder.r-hub.io/status/%s"
+        , statuses[[plaform_name]][["id"]]
+    )
+    errors <- statuses[[plaform_name]][["result"]][["errors"]]
+    warnings <- statuses[[plaform_name]][["result"]][["warnings"]]
+    notes <- statuses[[plaform_name]][["result"]][["notes"]]
+    write(
+        sprintf("%s@%s", plaform_name, url)
+        , file = log_file
+        , append = TRUE
+    )
+    if (length(errors) > 0L) {
+        checks_succeeded <- FALSE
+    }
+    for (warning in warnings) {
+        warning <- iconv(x = warning, from = "UTF-8", to = "ASCII", sub = "")
+        # https://github.com/r-hub/rhub/issues/113
+        if (!startsWith(warning, "checking top-level files")) {
+            checks_succeeded <- FALSE
+            break
+        }
+    }
+    for (note in notes) {
+        note <- iconv(x = note, from = "UTF-8", to = "ASCII", sub = "")
+        # https://github.com/r-hub/rhub/issues/415
+        if (!(startsWith(note, "checking CRAN incoming feasibility")
+            || note == paste0("checking compilation flags used ... NOTE\n"
+                              , "Compilation used the following non-portable flag(s):\n  -march=pentiumpro"))) {
+            checks_succeeded <- FALSE
+            break
+        }
+    }
+    if (!checks_succeeded) {
+        break
+    }
+}
+sink()
+
+quit(save = "no", status = as.integer(!checks_succeeded))
diff --git a/.github/workflows/optional_checks.yml b/.github/workflows/optional_checks.yml
index 2f6bd789b3b9..9b679986f6ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/optional_checks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/optional_checks.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ jobs:
           submodules: false
       - name: Check that all tests succeeded
         run: |
-            workflows=("R valgrind tests;r-valgrind")
+            workflows=(
+                "R valgrind tests;r-valgrind"
+                "Solaris CRAN check;r-solaris"
+            )
             for i in "${workflows[@]}"; do
                 workflow_name=${i%;*}
                 trigger_phrase=${i#*;}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml b/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8cb33c7e94bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+name: Solaris CRAN check
+
+on:
+  repository_dispatch:
+    types: [gha_run_r_solaris]
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: solaris-cran
+    timeout-minutes: 120
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    container: rocker/r-base
+    env:
+      SECRETS_WORKFLOW: ${{ secrets.WORKFLOW }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Install essential software before checkout
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          apt-get update
+          apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
+            curl \
+            git \
+            jq
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 5
+          submodules: true
+          repository: microsoft/LightGBM
+          ref: "refs/pull/${{ github.event.client_payload.pr_number }}/merge"
+      - name: Send init status
+        if: ${{ always() }}
+        run: |
+          $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/append_comment.sh \
+            "${{ github.event.client_payload.comment_number }}" \
+            "Workflow **${{ github.workflow }}** has been triggered! 🚀\r\n${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/microsoft/LightGBM/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}"
+      - name: Run tests on Solaris
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          sh build-cran-package.sh || exit -1
+          apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
+              libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+              libxml2-dev \
+              libssl-dev
+          log_file="$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/rhub_logs.txt"
+          Rscript -e "install.packages('rhub', dependencies = c('Depends', 'Imports', 'LinkingTo'), repos = 'https://cran.r-project.org')"
+          Rscript $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R $(pwd)/lightgbm_*.tar.gz $log_file || exit -1
+      - name: Send final status
+        if: ${{ always() }}
+        run: |
+          $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/set_commit_status.sh "${{ github.workflow }}" "${{ job.status }}" "${{ github.event.client_payload.pr_sha }}"
+          body=""
+          while IFS= read -r line; do
+              platform=${line%@*}
+              url=${line#*@}
+              body="${body}${platform}: ${url}\r\n"
+          done < "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/rhub_logs.txt" || true
+          body="${body}Reports also have been sent to LightGBM public e-mail: http://www.yopmail.com/lightgbm_test_email\r\n"
+          body="${body}Status: ${{ job.status }}."
+          $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/append_comment.sh \
+            "${{ github.event.client_payload.comment_number }}" \
+            "$body"
+      - name: Rerun workflow-indicator
+        if: ${{ always() }}
+        run: |
+          bash $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/rerun_workflow.sh \
+            "optional_checks.yml" \
+            "${{ github.event.client_payload.pr_number }}" \
+            "${{ github.event.client_payload.pr_branch }}" \
+            || true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/triggering_comments.yml b/.github/workflows/triggering_comments.yml
index 7ad5f82b53b7..6803bf59fbc7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/triggering_comments.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/triggering_comments.yml
@@ -32,3 +32,11 @@ jobs:
           "${{ github.event.issue.pull_request.url }}" \
           "${{ github.event.comment.id }}" \
           "gha_run_build_r_artifacts"
+
+    - name: Trigger R Solaris CRAN checks
+      if: github.event.comment.body == '/gha run r-solaris'
+      run: |
+        $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/trigger_dispatch_run.sh \
+          "${{ github.event.issue.pull_request.url }}" \
+          "${{ github.event.comment.id }}" \
+          "gha_run_r_solaris"
diff --git a/R-package/README.md b/R-package/README.md
index 2dfb0ce89bf6..1e0b9dd61657 100644
--- a/R-package/README.md
+++ b/R-package/README.md
@@ -354,6 +354,12 @@ rhub::check(
 )
 ```
 
+Alternatively, GitHub Actions can run code above for you. On a pull request, create a comment with this phrase:
+
+> /gha run r-solais
+
+**NOTE:** Please do this only once you see that other R tests on a pull request are passing. R Hub is a free resource with limited capacity, and we want to be respectful community members.
+
 #### UBSAN
 
 All packages uploaded to CRAN must pass a build using `gcc` instrumented with two sanitizers: the Address Sanitizer (ASAN) and the Undefined Behavior Sanitizer (UBSAN). For more background, see [this blog post](http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/code/sanitizers.html).