diff --git a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c06bf8f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Workflow derived from https://github.com/r-lib/actions/tree/v2/examples
+# Need help debugging build failures? Start at https://github.com/r-lib/actions#where-to-find-help
+#
+# NOTE: This workflow only directly installs "hard" dependencies, i.e. Depends,
+# Imports, and LinkingTo dependencies. Notably, Suggests dependencies are never
+# installed, with the exception of testthat, knitr, and rmarkdown. The cache is
+# never used to avoid accidentally restoring a cache containing a suggested
+# dependency.
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main, master]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [main, master]
+
+name: R-CMD-check-no-suggests.yaml
+
+permissions: read-all
+
+jobs:
+  check-no-suggests:
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.config.os }}
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.config.os }} (${{ matrix.config.r }})
+
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        config:
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'release'}
+
+    env:
+      GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      R_KEEP_PKG_SOURCE: yes
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
+
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
+        with:
+          r-version: ${{ matrix.config.r }}
+          http-user-agent: ${{ matrix.config.http-user-agent }}
+          use-public-rspm: true
+
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
+        with:
+          dependencies: '"hard"'
+          cache: false
+          extra-packages: |
+            any::rcmdcheck
+            any::testthat
+            any::knitr
+            any::rmarkdown
+          needs: check
+
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
+        with:
+          upload-snapshots: true
+          build_args: 'c("--no-manual","--compact-vignettes=gs+qpdf")'
diff --git a/README.Rmd b/README.Rmd
index 183c7080..370fe339 100644
--- a/README.Rmd
+++ b/README.Rmd
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ knitr::opts_chunk$set(
 [![CRAN_Status_Badge](http://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/dials)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dials)
 [![Downloads](http://cranlogs.r-pkg.org/badges/dials)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dials)
 [![lifecycle](https://img.shields.io/badge/lifecycle-stable-brightgreen.svg)](https://lifecycle.r-lib.org/articles/stages.html)
+[![R-CMD-check-hard](https://github.com/tidymodels/dials/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/tidymodels/dials/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml)
 <!-- badges: end -->
 
 ## Overview
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 17deb733..2505187f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ coverage](https://codecov.io/gh/tidymodels/dials/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](h
 [![CRAN_Status_Badge](http://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/dials)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dials)
 [![Downloads](http://cranlogs.r-pkg.org/badges/dials)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dials)
 [![lifecycle](https://img.shields.io/badge/lifecycle-stable-brightgreen.svg)](https://lifecycle.r-lib.org/articles/stages.html)
+[![R-CMD-check-hard](https://github.com/tidymodels/dials/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/tidymodels/dials/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check-hard.yaml)
 <!-- badges: end -->
 
 ## Overview
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-finalize.R b/tests/testthat/test-finalize.R
index 2464eb43..cf477922 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-finalize.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-finalize.R
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 
-suppressMessages(library(kernlab))
-
 test_that("estimate columns", {
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, get_p(1:10))
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, get_p(1:10, 1:10))
@@ -48,6 +46,9 @@ test_that("estimate rows", {
 
 
 test_that("estimate sigma", {
+  skip_if_not_installed("kernlab")
+  suppressMessages(library(kernlab))
+
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, get_rbf_range(rbf_sigma(), iris))
 
   run_1 <- range_get(get_rbf_range(rbf_sigma(), mtcars, seed = 5624))
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ test_that("estimate sigma", {
 
 
 test_that("force", {
+  skip_if_not_installed("kernlab")
+  suppressMessages(library(kernlab))
+
   rbf_sigma_final <- finalize(rbf_sigma(), mtcars)
   rbf_sigma_same <- finalize(rbf_sigma(), mtcars, force = FALSE)