diff --git a/bin/ghstatus.py b/bin/ghstatus.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..08be7c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/ghstatus.py
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Poll GitHub status and optionally wait until it recovers."""
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import signal
+import sys
+import time
+import urllib.request
+import urllib.error
+from datetime import datetime
+
+URL = "https://www.githubstatus.com/api/v2/summary.json"
+
+SEVERITY = ["none", "minor", "major", "critical"]
+
+COMPONENT_SYMBOLS = {
+    "operational": ("\033[32m", "●"),  # green
+    "degraded_performance": ("\033[33m", "▲"),  # yellow
+    "partial_outage": ("\033[31m", "◐"),  # red
+    "major_outage": ("\033[91m", "✖"),  # bright red
+}
+
+RESET = "\033[0m"
+
+
+def fetch_summary():
+    req = urllib.request.Request(URL, headers={"User-Agent": "ghstatus/1.0"})
+    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as resp:
+        return json.loads(resp.read())
+
+
+def print_status(data):
+    now = datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M:%S")
+    indicator = data["status"]["indicator"]
+    description = data["status"]["description"]
+
+    color = {
+        "none": "\033[32m",
+        "minor": "\033[33m",
+        "major": "\033[38;5;208m",
+        "critical": "\033[91m",
+    }.get(indicator, "")
+
+    print(f"[{now}] {color}{description}{RESET}")
+
+    for comp in data["components"]:
+        # skip the overall "GitHub" page-level component
+        if comp.get("group") is False and comp["name"] == "GitHub":
+            continue
+        status = comp["status"]
+        sym_color, symbol = COMPONENT_SYMBOLS.get(status, ("", "?"))
+        print(f"  {sym_color}{symbol}{RESET} {comp['name']}: {status}")
+
+    print()
+
+
+def within_max_severity(indicator, max_severity):
+    return SEVERITY.index(indicator) <= SEVERITY.index(max_severity)
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Poll GitHub status")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-i",
+        "--interval",
+        type=float,
+        default=5,
+        help="Poll interval in minutes (default: 5)",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-s",
+        "--max-severity",
+        choices=SEVERITY,
+        default="minor",
+        help="Max acceptable severity (default: minor)",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-1",
+        "--once",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Check once and exit",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, lambda *_: sys.exit(0))
+
+    while True:
+        try:
+            data = fetch_summary()
+        except (urllib.error.URLError, OSError, json.JSONDecodeError) as e:
+            print(f"Error fetching status: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+            if args.once:
+                sys.exit(2)
+            time.sleep(args.interval * 60)
+            continue
+
+        print_status(data)
+        indicator = data["status"]["indicator"]
+
+        if within_max_severity(indicator, args.max_severity):
+            sys.exit(0)
+
+        if args.once:
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+        time.sleep(args.interval * 60)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()